The Saiyan Clan
by A Common Hero
Summary: When Goku and Vegeta are asked to train three demi-Saiyans living in Konohagakure, they eagerly agreed. When Naruto learned he was soon to be adopted, he couldn't believe his ears. Naruto/DBZ crossover. Naru/Hina.
1. Of Learned Truths

A/N: This story disregards Dragon Ball GT entirely, the events within having not taken place yet. Not to mention this author has never watched GT (having only read the Dragon Ball Manga), so I would have to look up information far too often.

**Of Learned Truths**

It was a warm, sunny day on the summit of Mount Paozu. The green scenery evoked a natural clam in even the most hardened of warriors. Home of the strongest warrior of Earth, the summit currently bore witness to a powerful struggle.

"Watch yourself Uub!" laughed Goku as he sent a barrage of ki blasts at the young student from behind. Surprised only momentarily, Uub raised his arms, deflecting the ki blasts around him in a flurry of movement. His eyes shifted around, failing to find Goku.

_Where is… there!_

Suddenly sensing his teacher's ki, Uub directed his gaze straight up. He found Goku in time to witness him preparing a Kamehameha.

_Well then, how will you react to this Uub?_ the strongest of Saiyans asked himself.

Uub stood his ground in the face of the blast, cupping his own hands together behind him. A ball of energy began to form in each of their hands, as they recited the chant together.

"Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" they bellowed in the same instant, firing the wave of energy simultaneously. The moves collided midway between the two. Uub could feel the earth beneath his feet tremble under the ferocity of the struggle.

"Hey, you're doing pretty good," said Goku with a smile, encouraging his student.

"I learned from the best," replied Uub in equally good humor, but without the smile. His brow furrowed in concentration as his arms trembled. He marshaled all the strength within him, but he was slowly loosing the struggle. The point of contact inched constantly closer to the young warrior.

With a sudden increase in speed, the beam engulfed Uub completely, much to Goku's surprise.

_That was too easy, he usually does better than-_

His thoughts were interrupted as he sensed ki behind him.

"HA!" howled Uub as he unleashed a full powered Kamehameha to Goku's back. It engulfed the Saiyan completely, instantaneously. Uub's face lit up in wonder for a moment at the prospect of defeating his teacher.

"Combining Instant Transmission and Kamehameha? Boy, that brings back memories!" said the ever cheerful voice behind him.

"What?" replied Uub, turning around quickly, ending the attack. "But I thought I had you that time!"

"You would have, but you forgot something. Instant transmission can be used to evade attacks, not just launch them."

"Of course!" replied Uub, realizing his mistake with good humor. "Well then, let's continue."

"Of course, wouldn't be a test if we didn't."

Goku lowered into his fighting stance again, making it obvious that this time he would wait for Uub to strike. He didn't have to wait long, it was only a few instants later that Uub dashed within striking distance of his teacher, striking him with a kick aimed to the right of his head. Goku blocked easily enough with his right arm, but Uub continued to pound him with his leg, forcing the strongest Saiyan to keep up the defense.

After the fourth hit, Goku grabbed Uub's leg in retaliation, preparing to toss him away. But the younger warrior smirked, and used this hold to position a kick to left of his master's head. It was likewise caught, but Uub continued the momentum, twisting his torso enough to get a hand on the ground. Positively grinning from ear to ear now, Uub used the position to flip Goku off his feet, planting his face into the ground.

Goku's grip on his legs slackened, and the young Uub freed himself, flying up into the sky away from his master. He stopped after a few feet, turned sharply, and sent a barrage of ki blasts down at Goku. Dust began to fly in the air as the blasts beat the master of martial arts into the ground.

Uub stopped moments later, panting.

"I thought you had more in you than _that_ Uub," Goku responded from behind the exhausted student. Uub didn't even flinch, having already anticipated the Saiyan's escape.

"I do. I could probably push myself to about four times this," panted Uub.

Goku's eyes widened in recognition, and he raised his arms to his sides in the air, catching two Uubs by the head in each hand. The master's foot moved, and caught the final Uub as he flew up to attack him.

_The Multi-form technique. Very good, wasn't expecting that!_

"That was a good try Uub, but don't think something like that'll work so easily-"

The three Uub's cupped their arms behind their back, and quickly fired a Kamehameha each at Goku. The master quickly pushed himself back to evade the three moves, causing them to collide with explosive results.

The explosion caught the many Uubs, and they fell to the ground with a sturdy impact, forming back into one again. Goku floated over his student as Uub began to get up again, a bit less steady on his feet this time.

_This is the best spar so far. He's really come a long way!_

"You want to end it now, Uub?" asked Goku, the concern for his student evident in his voice. "You just took quite a beating."

"I'm fine…" replied the reincarnated warrior. "If I had to defend the Earth, I couldn't just _quit_. I will continue."

He rose completely and quickly now, determination burning like a flame in his eyes. Much to Goku's amused satisfaction; Uub prepared another attack, cupping both hands behind himself separately.

"Ka-me…"

Goku responded in kind, holding his hands out behind himself, preparing his own Kamehameha.

"Ha-me…" the two echoed.

But just as Goku was about to utter the final syllable, a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A fifth Uub rushed in between the two, hands held to the sides of his head.

"Solar Flare!"

Goku's eyes widened in surprise, the exact opposite of what he would have recommended doing in this situation. The technique caught in his eyes, blinding him in a flash. His energy faded away as he held his hands to his eyes, in pain for a brief instant from the flash.

The fifth Uub combined with the original, and his power increased to its true level. As the spheres of ki behind him bulged, Uub separated his hands. The ki divided itself equally between them.

"HA!"

Goku's eyes fluttered open slowly, just in time to see the technique launching at him. Two separate Kamehameha waves were flying towards him rapidly. With a dash of speed, Goku dodged to the side, but the energy waves turned sharply to follow him at the last minute, much to Goku's shock.

_I didn't know Uub knew how to do that!_

The two waves combined into one moments before striking Goku, catching him completely off guard this time. Combined they became more than the sum of their parts, and threatened to do serious damage to the Saiyan.

"No choice then!" said Goku, eyes narrowing. With a war cry to shake the earth, Goku powered up into his Super Saiyan form in a flash. The wave of energy hit him as he raised his guard, knocking him out of the sky. But with his increased power, the actual damage to his body was minimized.

Uub collapsed to his knees in exhaustion even as his sensei fell from the sky. Both student and master panted heavily from the exertion. Goku lowered himself back to his normal form.

"I did it," said Uub proudly. "I finally managed to force you up to your Super Saiyan level!"

"Yeah," grinned Goku, proud of his young student. He surveyed the damage he had taken during the training. It wasn't much, though his shirt was in ruins, along with most of his pants. However, that wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed with a quick trip to the store. Even the environment around them was relatively undamaged; only one major crater had formed, from when Uub had tried to beat him senseless with a barrage of small ki blasts, along with a few spider webs of cracks in the stone from where some of the slightly less devastating impacts had taken place.

_It really is a testament to Uub's remarkable control that so little collateral damaged was dealt! And he's pretty creative, strong too. Well, that settles it then._

"Well Uub, we've finally reached that point," affirmed Goku enthusiastically. "There's nothing more I can teach you."

Uub's eyes widened in complete shock. "But I'm not ready to be a Z Fighter! I'm nowhere near strong enough yet, I couldn't even bruise your Super Saiyan form!"

"Power isn't everything Uub," remarked Goku, as he got to his feet. "You've shown something far more important to a Warrior, creativity and control. The most decisive element in any battle is not usually who can toss around the most powerful techniques. Even the strongest move can be circumvented by someone who expects it. Much more important is that the warrior has the control over his own strength necessary to use it correctly, and the creative ability to do something completely unexpected. Just like how you caught me with that Solar Flare because I didn't expect you to be able to form a fifth duplicate. If an enemy doesn't know what you'll throw at him, it becomes harder to defend against, and _that_ is the most decisive element of any battle."

Uub beamed inwardly at the praise, but thought about it some more, betraying nothing but uncertainty in his features. "But even when I did get around your guard like that, you just became so much more powerful than me that my attack did nothing…"

"I'm not saying strength isn't _important_," admitted Goku. After a moment of thought, he continued, "But, how should I say this...? Strength isn't really something that can be taught to you by others. That's something you have to learn on your own. You've come as far as you can training under me. The rest is up to you."

Uub nodded, "I think I understand. Thank you Goku, for all you have done for me!" he finished, bowing.

"How many times have I told you, that's overdoing it a bit…?" Goku muttered in cheerful humility. "Besides, we're equals now."

Uub shook his head quickly.

"We may no longer master and apprentice, Goku, but we'll never be equals. I don't think anyone is more powerful, or more fitting to teach, than you."

-0-0-0-0-

In the gravity room of Capsule Corp, the prince of all Saiyans was trying to push himself further and further along the path to surpassing Kakarrot. His son, Trunks, was shouting encouragements from the observation chamber, much to Vegeta's annoyance. The younger Saiyan couldn't train with his father under these conditions of course, not even as a Super Saiyan.

"Trunks, increase the gravity to five hundred times," Vegeta requested in his most calm voice.

"W-what? But father, you're not even using Super Saiyan!"

"And I'm training in three hundred times well enough aren't I?" he snapped impatiently.

"But you can hardly move!"

Even the arrogant prince had to admit that was true. Even at only a fraction of the gravity he was requesting, he could only make the slowest of movements without ascending to Super Saiyan. To actually complete the task he had set for himself-to destroy three large, dense metal targets with only his bare hands-was already proving to be nearly impossible.

"I'll never defeat Kakarrot by just staying within my comfort zone!"

"Comfort zone? You're going to kill your-"

Trunks' voice stopped suddenly, making Vegeta's eyes narrow. What was keeping the boy? He had a sneaking suspicion.

"He wants you to do WHAT?" came the shrill cry of the banshee human he had deigned to marry. Which was _just_ what he needed of course.

"Vegeta! How many times do I have to tell you, the room is _only_ reinforced up to one hundred Gs above the setting you last requested! In this case THREE HUNDRED!" she roared down at him from the observation chamber. "If you try to go all the way to _five_ right now, the whole room could collapse on you!"

"That's never stopped me before woman, and it won't now!"

"YOU'VE TURNED IT UP TOO HIGH BEFORE?"

"Um… mom…" interrupted Trunks hesitantly. "I think what dad means is that he, uh… has every confidence that your work will hold no matter how badly he abuses it…"

"Damn right it will," she replied with a distinct humph. "But that doesn't mean you can just tempt fate like that all of the time," she added.

"Well _forgive _me for actually wanting to _achieve_ my goals," he replied. "How else do you expect me to defeat Kakarrot?"

"And there's another thing! His name is Goku!"

"I don't think Goku really cares what Vegeta calls him mom," Trunks interjected again; a bit less hesitant now that she was calming down a bit.

"Well it's still not his name. But funny you should mention Goku, Vegeta. He's come to visit. He's just outside, actually."

"What?" wondered Vegeta in complete surprise. This had been Kakarrot's first visit in years.

_So, did he finally finish training that human? Or did he come to beg for my help? Well either way, this could be the perfect opportunity to test how much stronger he's gotten in the last three years._

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Send him in!"

"To the gravity room? At three hundred times gravity?" wondered Trunks in amazement.

"Kakarrot can handle it," replied Vegeta.

It was only a few moments later when the door to the gravity room slid open, and Kakarrot walked inside. Vegeta watched him carefully, but aside from stumbling slightly as he walked into the room, the other Saiyan didn't seem to be overtly inhibited by the same levels of gravity that was making him struggle so much.

_So you _have _gotten stronger Kakarrot._

"Vegeta!" greeted Kakarrot with cheer. "Man, you've really been working hard haven't you? I feel so heavy in here!"

"You must have been training hard as well, to have such an easy time in these conditions. I expected your improvement to slow down when you were burdened by a student."

"Burden? No way! Having Uub around was great. There was always an opponent around, eager to try his hand at a match. And it sort of forced me not to use Super Saiyan, which I find helps when you're trying to improve yourself, you know?"

"Of course. Everything's harder for a Saiyan than a Super Saiyan."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of Bulma's voice coming, once again, from the observation deck.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes and you're already talking about training? You haven't seen each other in three years. Surely there are other things to talk about?"

"Mom, dad's mostly been in the gravity room for those three years… and Goku's just as obsessed as he is, isn't he?" asked Trunks.

"Oh, hey Trunks!" laughed Kakarrot. "You're here too? I haven't seen you in a few years, how've you been? You must've changed a bit by now, huh?"

"Yep!" laughed Trunks. "I've gotten a lot stronger. Stronger then Goten!"

"Oh, that reminds me," Bulma realized quickly. "Haven't you been to see your family yet Goku?"

"Um well… I didn't exactly isolate myself from them you know," Goku laughed nervously. "I saw them just this morning really. Uub and I have been training in the Paozu mountains, which is where Chi-Chi and I live. So I got to see the rest of my family a lot-"

"And you didn't bother to come visit us for the past three years?"

"Oh what are you complaining about woman?" Vegeta scoffed, dismissing her concerns as foolish. "Kakarrot's schedule is his own business. Although I do wish I had been able to track your progress."

"Well then, why don't we test that progress right now?"

"You're challenging _me_ to a fight for once? Well then, I accept. Trunks, increase the gravity to five hundred times."

"Ok dad!" Trunks responded enthusiastically.

"Five hundred times?" Goku inquired, enjoying the idea. "That's pretty intense."

"As it should be."

"Now just wait a minute!" interrupted Bulma, yet again. "I already told you, the room can't safely go that high!"

"Oh relax mom, it'll be fine."

"But, knowing those two, they're going to start firing off ki blasts at each other in a room already destabilized by the intense pressure of gravity that it was not yet designed to withstand! And if they do that, the whole place will collapse for sure!"

"Oh come on mom, don't you think you're being paranoid? Can't you have a little more confidence in your own creations?"

"There's a difference between confidence and recklessness!"

But before the issue could be resolved, a voice could be heard in the gravity room. Completely disembodied, the voice seemed familiar to the Saiyans in the room, though it took them a few moments to place it.

It said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Vegeta, Goku, and I have some business together that we will have to deal with presently. I'm afraid I must interrupt your intended sparring match."

"Who the hell is-" began Vegeta in annoyance, before being interrupted by Goku.

"Kibito Kai, is that you? Hey, it's been a while! Why are you projecting your voice? Can't you just teleport in?"

"Unfortunately you two have turned the gravity in that room up to a point that I'm not entirely certain I could withstand. If you wish to talk face to face, I'll be just outside of Capsule Corp. And please don't keep me waiting just to have a match. It's not critical yet, but the situation we need to discuss still leaves time as a factor."

"Ok, ok, we'll be right out," consented Vegeta unenthusiastically.

"Yeah, if you need help it _must_ be serious. Come on Vegeta," Kakarrot urged, emphasizing with a wave of his arm.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. I'll be right out, alright?"

"Well alright, but hurry up!" Goku chided, running out of the gravity room at a high speed.

_And I can barely limp out of this room with the gravity like this. Damn it Kakarrot, will I _never _catch up to you?_

"Well what are you waiting for boy? Turn off the gravity already!"

"Oh, right," Trunks said hastily, turning the gravity back to one. "Wait… was that why you were waiting? So you wouldn't show weakness in front of Goku?"

"Never mind that! Damn it, what could Kibito Kai want anyway?" he muttered to himself as he ran out after Kakarrot.

-0-0-0-0-

As Goku exited Capsule Corp, a million thoughts were in his head. It wasn't so much that he wasn't excited to see the fused Kaioshin after all these years, quite the opposite in fact. It would be great to catch up with the overseer again. But there was the issue of what he intended to ask of Goku. If the overseer of the eastern portion of the entire Universe needed something from you, odds were it wasn't good.

_It couldn't be another monster like Buu could it? If he needs something from Vegeta and I though, there's not much it could be but a fight. And it wouldn't be against just any opponent either._

But despite the thrill that ran through the warrior at the thought of another fight like the one against Kid Buu, his more practical side dreaded the prospect. There would be very little good to come out of another such confrontation. The possible destruction of the Earth, or other worlds with sentient people on them, was a very likely concept in such fights. Even wishing things back to normal with the Dragon Balls wouldn't erase the fact that all those people had to die in the first place.

_It can be very easy to forget about the consequences of something when it's so easy to set things right again. But we should try never to forget how cataclysmic such a thing really is for the people of those worlds._

He found Kibito Kai waiting for him directly outside the Capsule Corp building. Still the same as ever, the Kai seemed to carry a peaceful, at ease countenance. Seemingly typical of the Kai when they had first met, Goku knew that in a time of crises he would give into his stress quite easily. The Saiyan warrior relaxed a little, therefore, on the sight of Kibito Kai. There wasn't anything to worry about just yet.

"So then, what's this all about Kibito?" inquired Vegeta as he walked up from behind Goku. "I assume you didn't just interrupt us for a social visit?"

"You are correct. In all point of fact, I have an important favor to ask of you both."

"Well, ok then," grinned Goku excitedly. "What do you need?"

"To put it bluntly, I need you both to help train a couple of new warriors, on another world. Ones whom the other Kaioshin and myself hope will act for their world as you two have for Earth in the past, given enough time to improve."

"You want us to do what?" Vegeta scowled incredulously. "And why should I do that? I'm far too busy to train a couple of punks who think themselves heroes!"

"Oh come on Vegeta," insisted Goku. "All you're doing is training by yourself anyway. And it really sounds like, whoever these two are; they could really use our help."

"The Prince of all Saiyans will _not_ reduce himself to helping a couple of _weaklings_ to grow stronger."

"You don't even know how strong they are yet," pointed out Goku. "They may just need a little bit of help."

"No, I won't lie to you," the Kaioshin cut in. "This request will take a while. The current three preferable subjects are currently divided between the ages of seven and thirteen, with only one in the latter. The younger ones are currently quite weak."

"And you thought I would agree to go out of my way just to help you? Incredible," mussed the prince as he turned to walk back to the gravity room.

"I thought you would want to help your fellow Saiyans to reach their full potential."

Vegeta instantly froze in place. Neither Goku nor Kibito Kai could see, but his features had slipped into a look of sheer shock. His mouth was practically agape. There couldn't be more survivors. But the Kaioshin claimed there were.

Goku too was affected by the news. He turned sharply to Kibito Kai, and asked hurriedly, "Wait, there are more surviving Saiyans? How… where… _what _happened?"

"Relax, if you'll just allow me to explain-"

"Hold on a minute," snapped Vegeta, realizing something was up. "The individuals you described are far too young to be survivors of the destruction of Planet Vegeta! They'd have to be somewhere around our age to have even been alive at the time," he accused.

"I said I could explain everything," responded Kibito Kai, his voice betraying his increased annoyance.

-0-0-0-0-

The young Sasuke Uchiha was out training by the lake. Normally he'd move in to a more central location in Konoha, perhaps one of the numbered training grounds, but according to his father, this would be the perfect place to learn the Jutsu he intended to impart upon his youngest son.

_Just to have otou-san actually want to teach me a technique is great!_ Sasuke mussed excitedly to himself as they walked down towards the edge of the water. _But what kind of move will it be? Oh wait, there's so much water! He couldn't be teaching me a… Katon Jutsu?_

As they came to the edge of the water, Fugaku spoke to his son.

"Ok Sasuke. Since you seem to be so eager to grow up, we will be working with fire today. Mastery of a Katon Jutsu will earn you the acknowledgment as a full adult of the clan that you seem to seek."

_I knew it!_ Sasuke thought excitedly. He paid close attention as Fugaku ran through the hand seals for the most basic fire technique.

"Did you catch all of that? Those are the hand seals for the _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_, the most basic of Katon Jutsu. To master the technique, just gather chakra in your lunges, and release out the mouth, like so."

He quickly ran through the seals again, and exhaled a ball of fire out towards the lake, where it couldn't burn down the forest if used incorrectly. Not that he would mess up, of course.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"_ came the sound of his voice through the flames. Sasuke's eyes widened in awe as he felt the heat on his face. He watched the light of the immense ball of flame play across the water. It had a distinct beauty only achievable when possessing great power.

"Now you try."

Sasuke ran through the seals; much slower than his father had, and felt the chakra gather in his chest. It was like a warm, light embrace. His eyes narrowed in determination as he forced it to stay in place. He could feel some of the chakra escaping. He had to make this quick.

"_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu_!" he cried as he exhaled the chakra. But as it left his mouth it simply dissipated in the air. The only visible flame was a small wisp, barely enough to light a lamp, nonetheless set an enemy ablaze.

Fugaku eyed his son's flame, trying hard to hide his disappointment. But he wasn't doing a very good job of it. As Sasuke looked up to him, he could see it on his face.

"Sasuke, why do you want to learn so much so quickly? It's not shameful to take life at the pace you can handle."

"I have to get stronger if I ever want to catch up with nii-san," he replied without hesitation, looking down at his hands to make sure he was doing the seals right, but also to avoid his father's gaze.

"Is catching up with Itachi really so important? He's a genius, of course, but an unhappy one. You'd do well not to follow in his footsteps."

Sasuke's hands faltered as he abandoned practicing the seals. For the moment he just sat by the lake, starring at the water.

"Nii-san's been acting very strange lately," Sasuke observed hesitantly, unsure of if he should bring up such unpraiseworthy things about his father's favorite child. "He seems less happy, less content. It's like he's slowly slipping away from me and… I don't understand what it is. He seems so mad at the world… or at least at us…"

Fugaku flinched, and sat down next to his younger son. Was this the kind of thing that went through little Sasuke's mind these days at the sight of his brother? Fugaku couldn't blame the boy, most his observations seemed accurate.

"You're very perceptive for someone your age, my little Sasuke," he sighed. "I don't know what it is with the boy, but I can't help feel he'd be a lot happier these days if only his mother was around to take care of him too. I think it might be something like that at the root of it all.

"…What was kaa-san like?" Sasuke wondered, not looking up. He just stared at the lake, but Fugaku could see his face in the water. It was clearly depressed.

"She was a great woman," replied Fugaku, fondness conveyed clearly in his tone. "She wasn't an Uchiha, but she was still one of the most powerful kunoichi to ever come out of a Shinobi village. She was even the only person in the village who could really give the Yondaime a run for his money when they practiced together," laughed the elder Uchiha.

Sasuke looked up, startled. "You never told me kaa-san was such a strong ninja!" he said excitedly.

"Certainly the strongest kunoichi of our village. I'd be willing to say that even though she will never be as experienced as Tsunade, she had already surpassed the great medical-nin. Only the Yondaime was truly stronger than her, I should think."

"Incredible!" Sasuke proclaimed in wonder. "But if she was so strong, then how could she have…"

Fugaku understood what Sasuke meant immediately. His eyes glazed over a little as he stared out across the lake. "I have never told you that story, I know. I don't think… you're ready for it."

"What! But… but…!"

"How about this?" smiled Fugaku in amusement. "When you master the _Gokakyu no Jutsu_, I'll tell you how your kaa-san died. You'll be an adult then, and you'll be ready."

Sasuke nodded eagerly, and got back to his feet.

"Yes father!" he replied as he ran through the hand seals. Fugaku smiled in amusement as his youngest son failed the Jutsu yet again. He got to his feet, and began walking back towards the compound. The young Sasuke looked back towards him as he went, but turned back towards the water wordlessly, so eager was he to learn the Jutsu, and the fate of his kaa-san.

Fugaku looked back over his shoulder with a small smile on his face as he went. He took a final look towards his Sasuke, before continuing forward.

_I see so much of her in you already my son. There's a strength in you others might never know. Certainly you are strong enough to know the truth already. But… let's see if we can't squeeze the motivation to learn a new Jutsu out of you in the meantime,_ he mused as he kept up the pace towards his home.

-0-0-0-0-

The Hokage tower was peaceful that day, a rare occurrence indeed. Shinobi came in and out at frequent intervals during all hours for any number of reasons, many of which seemed to signal a coming crisis. Sometimes there were Shinobi from bordering countries whose patrol patterns had "mistakenly" placed them within the boarders of the country of fire, sometimes there was an unexpected visit from a dignitary of a far off land, and sometimes the academy had just so happened to realize that it was running low on toilet paper. No matter the "crisis," big or small, near or far, the Hokage tower was always at the center of it. Usually there were delegates for some of the smaller aspects of running the village that dealt with the minor issues, but no matter how small, everything went past the Hokage eventually.

This, mussed Sarutobi, was probably the reason there was always so much paper work running across his desk.

Luckily for the old Hokage, even that had been dealt with that day. For the next few minutes, he genuinely had nothing to do, no worries to care about. The rarest state for a village leader by far.

But of course, things never stay quiet for long. The Sandaime's most peaceful day in years was soon interrupted by a knock on his office door. Three raps across the face of it in quick succession, followed by silence. This, observed the village leader, was the distinctly curt pattern of his Anbu guard, who would only knock as such if they were escorting someone into his office personally. Usually these were enemy combatants of the most illustrious nature: battalion leaders, high ranking Jounin who might have valued information, assassins caught outside his door, and all manner of intruding entities. But no such thing was common outside of war time.

And besides that, the Sandaime could sense the familiar, unparalleled energies outside his door. No, there could only be one person that an Anbu would escort to his office during times of peace.

"Send him in," replied the Hokage to the call. He took out his pipe, and was half way to lighting it before the boy was ushered into the room. It dropped from his mouth as he viewed the state of him.

"Naruto…" he whispered is resigned horror. "Who did this to you?"

The blond pariah had just entered his office looking quite the mess. Lesions across his arms, various spots across his body already forming bruises, and to top it all off the entire left side of his face was swollen and bleeding. He couldn't even open that eye. He grimaced as the Hokage spoke. His teeth were red, and one fell out. The boy caught it out of the air, and stuffed it in his pocket as if to hide it.

"N-no body in particular," came his response.

"Naruto, whoever did this needs to be severely punished, you know that. But I can't do anything if you can't tell me who it was," sighed the Sandaime, already initiating the familiar song and dance.

"But I don't know who it was!" protested Naruto, voice not wavering in the slightest, despite the small amounts of blood that trickled down his chin with the words. "I don't know their name, I don't know their face, I don't even know why they did it!"

Sarutobi nodded, closing his eyes in contemplation. It was always the same. A group of people wearing masks, thankfully not at all similar to those worn by his own Anbu, would attack Naruto, beating him severely. Naruto was never able to identify the culprits, though the various groups seemed to be composed of differing individuals, as Naruto was always quick to note their change in height between each incident.

But if the Hokage couldn't catch the culprits, he couldn't punish them. If he couldn't identify the culprits, he wouldn't be able to catch them. Which only left one option.

"Naruto-"

"No, don't even think about it Ojii-san!" barked Naruto heatedly. "I don't _want_ a bunch of Anbu just following me around; I want to know why this is happening in the first place! What did I do? I'd stop if I only knew what it was…"

"You didn't do anything Naruto. It's more complicated then that…"

"I won't accept the guard, Ojii-san…" Naruto replied darkly. "Not until you tell me…"

Sarutobi reflected again on the typicality of it all. Despite his youth and grades, Naruto displayed a disconcertingly crude cunning in these meetings. The young Jinchuuriki had long ago discovered the power of his own regenerative ability, though thankfully never the source of such. Figuring out soon after that his healing set him apart from the normal human standard somehow, the young Naruto had chosen to use this to his advantage.

Advantage was, of course, a relative term. Sarutobi had reason to believe the young Naruto was purposely refusing an Anbu guard until he cracked down and told the child why the village despised him so. Such a feat was only made possible by his advanced healing factor.

"Come on Ojii-san! I've been evading your Anbu guards for months now. You can't force me to accept your help until you just tell me already! Why do they all look at me like this? Like I'm some sort of monster…"

Sarutobi winced. It was true; the prankster had evaded his attempts to have the pariah shadowed, despite the boy's protests, with a remarkable ease. Sarutobi was under the sneaking suspicion that the majority of the Anbu he had sent must have used his so called "evasions" as an excuse to fail in their duty on purpose. However, whatever the case may be, that still left him in a tough position.

Should he tell the child the secret of his past? Could he afford not to? No matter what the stubborn blond thought, the boy was by no means immortal. Acting as he was just seemed to beg the villagers to use more than just their fists.

"…Will you please escort Naruto-kun outside for a minute?" Sarutobi politely ordered the Anbu. "I wish to speak with you alone."

The Anbu nodded, and despite the blonde's protests, took him outside. Instructing the child to wait patiently outside for the moment, he calmly walked back inside.

"What do you think, Tenzo?"

The Anbu bowed, and replied, "Sir, what the boy is willing to go through to learn of his fate is, frankly, astounding. The lacerations across his arms indicate he was held down, possibly by a woman, while the others beat him into the condition he is in now. If he has been willingly going through such, or even seeking it out by abandoning his guard… such resolve is uncommon. The boy accepts these dangers in a way most befitting a true Shinobi."

"Yes... Naruto is certainly… unusual. I think I will have to tell him for his physical well being. I'm not sure how he's going to take it all though."

Tenzo nodded, knowing full well what Sarutobi meant. It is a very uncommon seven year old who can handle the idea of having something like the Kyuubi no Kitsune within them.

"Though his methodology and goals may be a bit misplaced," admitted the Anbu, "his resolve is fierce. If anyone can handle the truth, it is Naruto."

The Sandaime replied only with a nod. Taking that as a signal, Tenzo left the office, returning only a moment later with the young Jinchuuriki.

"Alright Naruto," began Sarutobi. "Perhaps it _is_ time you knew the truth."

Naruto nodded gravely, mixed emotions warring within him. On the one hand, he wanted to grin. After all this time, his ploy had worked. But on the other hand, he understood how solemn this would be. He had deduced a while ago that there had to be _something_ about him that caused the villagers to hate him. Whatever it was, it wasn't a revelation to take lightly.

"To begin, I must ask you what you know of the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Naruto nodded, and thought for only a moment before responding, "Not a lot. I know it is a beast of great strength, almost so as to be a force of nature. A single strike of its tail was said to cause tidal waves, and level mountains.

"And I know it attacked our village seven years ago, on the day of my birth. I know it's responsible for the death of both my parents, as you told me. And I know the Yondaime defeated it at the cost of his own life."

Sarutobi nodded, while taking a draft from his pipe. He exhaled a puff of smoke, and turned sadly to the blond.

"All you have side is true. But there's a side to the story you, nor anyone of your generation, was told. And it is this that concerns you the most."

"Ano… what do you mean, Ojii-san?"

"I'm saying…" Here Sarutobi hesitated. But he pressed on. "I'm saying even the Yondaime was not powerful enough to kill the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Nothing can kill a Bijuu, Naruto."

"But then… what are you saying Ojii-san?" Naruto demanded quietly, beginning to worry. Some part of him already knew the answer.

"I'm saying he did not destroy the Kyuubi, but instead sealed it away within a child. And that child, Naruto… was you."

The boy was stunned. His eyes widened, and his mouth nearly flew agape. He stared down at the floor quietly, taking it all in.

"So… this is why the village hates me…?" he asked in subdued horror. "Because I remind them of what _it_ did…?"

"That is correct," the Sandaime confirmed gravely.

"Ok then," replied Naruto casually, bringing his face back into view of the old man and his Anbu guard. His signature grin was plastered on his face.

"Now I know the cause! Thanks Ojii-san, that's really a load off my mind!"

The Sandaime blinked. He hadn't expected Naruto to take it _that_ well.

"You're not concerned about this… at all? I mean, you understand you have an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous force of nature sealed within you… don't you Naruto-kun?"

"Well yeah!" he said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head the way he always did when he was embarrassed. "But it's always been that way right? Nothing's changed. I juts understand it better is all."

Sarutobi smiled, and nodded. Yes, that was the perfect way to look at this situation. Nothing truly _had_ changed for the child, had it? Of all the ways Naruto could have reacted, the Hokage had to admit that this was perhaps the best possible.

"There's just… one thing I'd like to know," Naruto continued, in a more serious tone. "Why me? Was it only because I was the only child available at the time or… why me?"

Sarutobi closed his eyes, giving off an aura of serenity to the young child. Inside he was anything but. This answer was a difficult one. It involved the boy's father, and for all he had trusted Naruto with so far, the identity of his father would be too much. It would be dangerous to tell him regardless of how he reacted anyway. If anyone else were to learn of this, the boy's life was practically forfeit.

"The Yondaime chose you, Naruto, because he knew you could handle it. He knew you were strong enough."

"But… how could he have known?" Naruto wondered in confusion. "I was just a baby. No one could have known how strong I was."

Sarutobi chose his words carefully. "He knew because he knew your father. One of the strongest Shinobi in the village by far, perfect material for Hokage, and more. These were the perfect qualities with which to describe your father, Naruto. His strength, both physically and of sheer force of will, were practically unnatural. He had hoped you would inherit these qualities."

He smiled warmly down at the blond. It was times like these where he almost felt like the Jinchuuriki's grandfather. And as always in such moments, he felt an immeasurable sense of pride.

"And he was right. I see so much of your father in you, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened in astonishment, but then he smiled gratefully, and nodded. He turned towards the door, ready to leave. His eyes had grown a little moist in his pleasure, to be so favorably compared to his father, and to learn for the first time just how great a man he must have been.

"Thank you… Ojii-san," he gave as his farewell as he left towards his home. He would rest a while, to recover from his wounds. And then… then maybe he'd get some ramen to celebrate his new found knowledge of his ancestry.

As the boy left the office, Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. He looked to Tenzo pointedly and said, "I do not think young Naruto would object to an Anbu shadowing him any longer, Tenzo-san."

"Hai," was Tenzo's only response as he made a hand sign. He disappeared in a burst of smoke, to protect the injured child on his way home.

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Well hopefully that makes the exposition clear enough. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Oh, and this chapter is much longer than I usually write, but a couple thousand words or so. So much so that I had to cut it off here to keep it manageable, I had originally planed to get Vegeta and Goku situated in Konoha by now, but decided this was a better end to it. I'm not sure how long the rest of the chapters in this story will be, but so far I felt inspired. I promise to get around five thousand words each installment.

Next chapter: Goku and Vegeta arrive in Konoha, to seek out the newly discovered final Saiyans. Where is Konoha? Who are the Saiyans? And what will the defenders of Earth do with the answers?


	2. Arrival

**Arrival**

Dinner in the Son household that night was a very awkward occasion. Well, for Chi-Chi anyway. Goku and Goten didn't seem to mind all too much. They were too busy wolfing down plate after plate of the wife and mother's delicious cooking. The emphasis, to them, was on delicious. For a Saiyan, food _this_ good could be distracting.

But Chi-Chi was neither a Saiyan, nor a glutton. Throughout the meal, she was in thought at the news Goku had delivered earlier that day. It was twofold, and half of it even seemed like good news. Uub had passed Goku's final exam with flying colors, and they would no longer be training together. That was the good news, or it had been for all of ten seconds. Chi-Chi had been hoping that this development would allow the Saiyan father to spend more time with her and their two sons now that he didn't have that responsibility anymore.

Sadly, that wouldn't be the case. The second piece of news was that Goku had been called upon by the four Kaioshin to help train yet another warrior, or even three warriors. He hadn't been very coherent about the exact number of students, but it had been somewhere between one and three. And to train these students, he would be leaving for a while.

She was going to see even _less_ of her husband from now on.

"Goku?" asked Chi-Chi hesitantly. But as the Saiyan continued to eat, apparently not hearing her, her temper began to flare up a bit. She slammed her hand down on the table, causing a decently sized bowl of rice to jump off the edge, right into her husbands lap. That got his attention.

"Huh…?" he asked, a little inarticulately, as he began to clean himself off. "Um, you needed something Chi-Chi?"

Keeping her temper in check, she responded, "I wanted to ask you about this favor you're doing for the Kaioshin."

"Ok, go for it. What do you need to know?"

"Well for starters, where exactly are you going? You weren't exactly clear on that," she growled, fists clenching.

"Well, that's because I don't really know," he replied with a goofy, if slightly nervous grin. "Kibito Kai didn't say exactly where this place was, or what it was called. But I know it's not on Earth."

"But that still doesn't explain why you can't visit!" replied Chi-Chi harshly. "With the power of Instant Transmission, you could be back here in an instant. You even went to the Other World with that! So why can't you pop back every once and a while, huh?"

"Um… I don't know," Goku responded sheepishly. This conversation wasn't going well at all. "I was just told I wouldn't be able to is all. Or wait, I think the actual wording was, 'it would be inadvisable to.' Yeah, that was it!"

"It doesn't matter, it's the same either way!" roared Chi-Chi in her frustration. "Goku, aren't we entitled to your time more than some strangers you don't even know? How long are you even going to be gone…?"

"I… I don't know Chi-Chi," he sighed. "According to Kibito, some of the warriors are pretty weak. It might be a while."

"You've done enough for the Earth as it is Goku!" she responded heatedly. "You've saved _this_ world many times over! You've trained the next great protector of Earth, Uub. You've done enough… isn't it time to retire? To spend sometime with your family? And now you're talking of running off to save some other world?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Goku pointed out. "Remember Namek? Besides Chi-Chi, I'm needed there. Our family is already grown, right Goten."

"Well yeah," said the youngest of the half-Saiyans. Well into his twenties, he was quite beyond the age to really _need_ his father around constantly.

But Chi-Chi would not relent. "Just because Goten and Gohan can both take care of themselves now does not mean they don't want to see you anymore! And I was certainly looking forward to seeing you more often as well."

"But Chi-Chi, I _have_ to go. Quite apart from the fact that the warriors we've been sent to train are themselves half Saiyan, there whole world may need me. Maybe not today, maybe not even within our lifetime. But the children I am being sent to train will one day grow old, and find someone else to train themselves. Maybe their own children, who knows? And then that warrior will take up the mantle, and repeat the process. And someday, it will be the difference between salvation and destruction in their world."

"Yes, yes, I know all of that! That's why you trained Uub too. But Vegeta can handle that Goku. You could just let him go and-"

"Oh please mom," cut in Goten as he finished his meal. "You know as well as I do that having Vegeta teach them is questionable enough even _with_ dad there. But to have him train three warriors on his own? The idea seems pretty absurd," he said with a laugh. "Mom," he continued gravely. "I agree with Dad. He should go. I only wish I could go with him, actually."

"Sorry Goten, no dice," Goku grinned. "Uub may have finished my training, but he's far from strong enough to protect Earth just yet. I'm counting on Trunks, Gohan, but most of all _you_ while I'm gone. It'll be your job to protect the Earth in my absence. Think you can handle it?"

"Of course," he replied with the patented 'Son grin.'

Chi-Chi sighed in defeat. She had known from the outset that she wouldn't be able to convince Goku to stay when he really _was_ needed elsewhere. But she was getting _tired_ of playing second to her husband's students.

"Well, if you really must go Goku, then I wish you luck. When will you be leaving?"

"First thing tomorrow," he replied, ending the conversation.

-0-0-0-0-

"You're not going to try to persuade me to stay behind are you woman?" Vegeta mocked, seemingly to the thin air of the gravity room. In reality, Bulma was in the observation chamber, out of sight, but not out of mind.

"Of course not, I'm not stupid Vegeta," she sighed. "I know you're going to follow Goku no matter where he goes now. I came to offer you some help."

Vegeta had to fight hard to suppress a dismissive word at that idea. His wife was far too weak to actually help someone in their training directly. She simply wasn't a fighter. However, the Prince of all Saiyans had learned long ago that she _could_ help in other ways. The very gravity room he spent most of his life in these days was a testament to that.

"Well to start, I've been building a second gravity room recently. I had intended to give it to Goku, as a gift-"

"What?" bellowed Vegeta. "You just intended to _give_ Kakarrot such an advantage in his training!"

"Oh be quiet!" she shouted back at him. "You have one, there's no reason such a good fighter as Goku shouldn't too. But that's beside the point. Whatever the reason, it's a good thing I did decide to build it, because I've decided to let you take it with you to the world you're going to be going to. That is, if you ask _nicely_."

Vegeta grimaced. He had no reason to question how she intended to give him an entire room to just bring with him. It was obviously going to be compressed into a capsule. But what he _did_ have was a reason to question, or rather loath, her one condition.

"…Will you _please_ give me the damn room!" he shouted back up at her, not at all in a nice tone of voice.

But apparently Bulma was satisfied, because she said, "Sure. Oh, and you're going to love this Vegeta. The room _was_ done already, but I decided to make a few adjustments. I know you're going to be away for a while, so I've reinforced the room well beyond the usual amount."

That got the prince's attention, sure enough.

"…Just how much beyond the normal amount?" he asked, trying to hide the eagerness of his voice. Thankfully for his Saiyan pride, he succeeded.

Of course, Bulma had known him long enough to tell how excited he'd be anyway. Her voice betrayed the smirk she must be wearing even at this moment, as she replied, "Oh, I only set it to train at over a nine-thousand times, nothing special."

Vegeta hadn't had this much trouble containing his shock in quite a while, barring the revelation that there were more Saiyans alive than he had thought. To receive both surprises in the same day, however, was just too bizarre.

"N-nine thousand…?" he asked in subdued awe. Even for him, that could take years to get used to. "You really expect me to be gone for a while, don't you?" he asked bemusedly.

"Of course. Which was why I also made sure to pack a good deal of Karin's Senzu Beans to keep you safe."

"Safe? You do realize that I am an invincible Saiyan, right?" he asked incredulously.

"And the Kaioshin want you on that world! Even if it's supposedly just to train some kids, I can't help but worry another Majin Buu is going to show up! So just take the damn beans with you!"

"Ok, ok, no need to yell like a banshee!" he replied curtly, getting back to his training. "Anything else?"

"Well of course I packed you some spar clothes, some spare capsules for anything you might find while you're there, and I gave you some material that can be constructed into weighted clothing while you're there."

"And why would I need weighted clothing?"

"Well for your students of course!"

He nodded, showing none of his initial surprise. Bulma had really thought of everything on this one. He probably would never have thought of such a weaker form of training himself.

_I wonder if Kakarrot had the same idea. I'll admit, when it comes to teaching someone else, he has slightly more experience than I. He's trained three warriors before, while I've only trained Trunks. Of course, _my _results were far superior to any of his._

"Well… thank you," he said to Bulma, more than a little awkwardly. It wasn't a phrase he used very often.

"You're leaving tomorrow aren't you?" she asked. "Do you think I should be there, to see you off?"

"No, don't bother," he replied. He decided not to add the fact that he didn't like such emotional moments as this farewell. He admitted to himself that he would definitely miss Bulma while he was gone, so he didn't need that awareness aggravated during his final moments on Earth.

"Tomorrow…" he muttered to himself.

He resumed his training with a spinning kick into the air. He would continue for the rest of that night.

-0-0-0-0-

That morning, Goku and Vegeta met outside Capsule Corp. Each was wearing their traditional cloths, the uniform of the Kame school for Goku and Saiyan battle armor for Vegeta, under black traveler's cloaks.

Vegeta looked to the sunrise as they waited for the Kaioshin. He was conspicuously alone as he had said his farewells to Bulma and Trunks the night before. He fiddled with the capsule in his right hand. It was noticeably large for a Capsule Corp. model, indicating the size of the contents within. Bulma would have tried to explain to him that the size was necessary to accommodate for the other capsules within, because the spatial compression needed to be compatible, or some such technological babble while he would try to tune her out, likely getting hit over the head with a frying pan when she invariably found out.

The capsule in his hand would be all he had to remember his family by for several years.

As Goku walked up on the prince, Vegeta noted he was _not_ alone. The elder of his half-Saiyan sons was walking just behind his father's shoulder. Vegeta noted the lack of a traveling cloak, and realized that Gohan was only here to say his final good-bye to his father.

"Kakarrot, did you forget to pack or something?" asked Vegeta, noting the lack of suitcase or capsule on Goku's person.

Goku responded with his famous grin, and said, "Well Bulma packed for me didn't she? Chi-Chi called her last night, and I heard something to that effect-"

"I don't know what that woman put in the capsule, not in its entirety anyway."

"You weren't paying attention when she told you, were you?" asked Gohan, smiling.

Before Vegeta could reply, there was the sound of air parting around the space behind him. The Kibito Kai had arrived.

"Gohan?" he asked, surprised. "We hadn't expected you."

"No, don't worry about it. I'm just here to see dad off."

"Well," mused the Kaioshin, "perhaps it is better that you are here. Someone should tell your families exactly where you're going."

"Yes, and someone should tell _us_ as well," growled Vegeta.

"Well, we should get to the location first. We can't see you off here. Or we could, but it would inconvenience your wife for a few years, Vegeta."

Gohan looked confused, but Goku and Vegeta had already been told the story, and had concluded that where they would have to go would not be reachable simply by moving through normal space.

"Well then, if you would all just grab onto my shoulders."

Goku and Gohan complied immediately, grabbing Kibito's right side. Vegeta placed a firm hold on his left. Nodding, Kibito Kai summoned his strength, and in a small burst of ki, the three were gone.

They reappeared elsewhere on Earth in the same instant. Gohan looked around, gathering his bearings. They were in an isolated mountain range, far away from any human city. He looked to the west, judging that to be his way home. If he was right about exactly where they were, he could get back in a matter of minutes by flying.

The other three Kaioshin were already there, two of which were sitting across from each other, the third sitting on a spot equidistant from both. Kibito Kai took his own seat across from the third.

"Vegeta, look down," Goku whispered in awe. Complying, Vegeta stared down. A large circle was carved into the earth, with each Kaioshin sitting within a smaller circle inscribed around the first's quadrants. Lines formed from linguistic characters stretched out from points on the circle that, to the uninformed Saiyans' eyes, seemed completely random. A kanji occupied the center, around which the lines seemed to bend, as if pulled by some powerful, unseen force. The kanji read "open."

"What is this?" asked Goku to the Kaioshin in awe.

"It is an intricate seal," replied Kibito Kai. "It was invented by the Kaioshin of the universe we're sending you to, using an advanced application of an art that was invented there. I believe they called it 'fuuinjutsu.'"

"Wait, wait, wait!" interrupted Gohan incredulously. "Did you just say-?"

"Other universe? Yes. I see your father didn't _tell_ you," Kibito replied, eyes narrowing towards Goku.

"Well, I would have had to explained to my wife," Goku explained sheepishly. "And that could have been…"

"Painful?"

"Yeah," admitted Goku with a laugh.

"Quite. Well, as I was saying, this will allow us to create a connection between the Earth in this universe, and a similar world in the other. This connection will be your transit."

"But… I'm confused," admitted Goku. "If the other universe's Kaioshin told you how to construct this, isn't there already a connection between the two?"

"Not one that can be physically traversed. All Kaioshin do, however, have ways to communicate with one another, even across universes. Of course, we didn't actually know of these Kaioshins' existence until they contacted us, asking for help. Any more questions?"

"I don't think so…" replied Goku hesitantly.

"Can we just get going already?" demanded Vegeta impatiently.

"Ok, we shall commence. Please enter the circle, try to stand in the center," was all Kibito Kai said in response. Instantly, and in tandem, the Kaioshin all got onto their knees, and began chanting.

"Bird, Tiger, Monkey, Rabbit, Dog, Bird, Dog, Tiger, Ox, Rat…"

_What's with those weird hand gestures they're making?_ wondered Gohan as he watched the display.

Goku and Vegeta walked into the circle, standing atop the symbol for open. The chanting continued in tandem with the hand symbols in a well rehearsed display of coordinated effort. Slowly the symbols within the circle began to glow a pale yellow. The kanji the Saiyans stood atop blazed the most brightly of all.

Hundreds of hand seals went into the array, consuming nearly ten minutes of chanting. But suddenly the Kaioshin all clasped their hands together, and with a cry of "Ox" they finished their chant.

The glow of the seals began to unravel from the earthly confines of their originals. The lines of characters lost their luster to the air around them within minutes. With an oath, Vegeta lowered into a defensive stance as the characters began to circle the two Saiyans quickly. Goku, however, remained calm.

After a minute of circling the two Saiyans, the glowing characters stopped suddenly. Without warning, they shot into the sky; several had to pass straight through the Saiyans in the process, a process that left a strange sensation in their muscles. The light disappeared, and for a moment nothing seemed to have occurred.

Then, at a speed unmatchable by even the two Saiyans themselves, a pillar of light descended on the seal, consuming it in its entirety. The force of the impact with the ground kicked up winds that threatened to push Gohan back. But a few moments later, the activity settled down.

The pillar did not fade away.

"…Where did they go?" Gohan asked hesitantly.

-0-0-0-0-

The Sandaime was having a pretty ordinary day. The most unusual aspect so far was that Jiraiya was expected back for his annual report today.

Something, however, must have been holding the sannin up, because he had yet to arrive. Sarutobi chuckled to himself at the thought. If something was holding Jiraiya off, it was probably 'research.' Not that Sarutobi could blame his student for being delayed by such things. It was always tempting, though Jiraiya really took it a bit far with his "appreciation of the female form."

There was a knock on the door. "Jiraiya has arrived, Hokage-sama," came the voice of Tenzo. "Along with two others."

"Others?" replied Sarutobi, confused. He hadn't expected Jiraiya to bring anyone with him.

"I don't recognize them, Hokage-sama," replied Tenzo. "And one of them is dressed extremely strangely, under his cloak that is. He's wearing some sort of armor. It's frankly completely unlike anything I've ever seen. And they look very muscular as well. If it weren't for their apparent lack of chakra, I would believe they were warriors."

Sarutobi nodded to himself, as Tenzo could not see him, considering the implications of that, if only briefly. He himself had not sensed anyone out of the ordinary approaching his door, not even Jiraiya. That in itself wasn't a surprise; sannin level Shinobi usually possessed the ability to suppress their chakra completely. It helped to be able to do so during stealth assignments. If Tenzo's judgment could be trusted, and it could, then the only conclusion was…

"Send them in, if Jiraiya trusts them, so do I."

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

The door opened, and the three visitors entered. Sarutobi quickly looked over the two strangers with a careful eye. They were about the same height, with similar black hair, both of which spiked, but with a vast difference in volume. Each wore the same black traveling cloaks, slightly open in the front. This opening allowed the Sandaime to observe that they did indeed look muscular, amazingly so. One wore a gi of a shade that reminded the old man of Naruto's own style of clothing. The other wore a blue outfit under what was indeed a form of white armor which seemed to be made from a material Sarutobi could not recognize.

"You two can stop suppressing you power now," the Sandaime sighed. "It's painfully obvious to the trained eye that you are indeed fighters, hiding your strength can only force me to make a haphazard guess towards what must be your considerable power."

The two looked to each other, the one in blue betraying only the same scowl that seemed as if it must be carved into stone upon his face, while the other gave a grin of unparalleled warmth. "Wow," said the one in orange, "you're pretty good."

"And from the feeling of your ki," remarked the other, "very powerful. For a human."

That one took Sarutobi by surprise. "What do you mean 'human'?"

Jiraiya gave off an uncontrollable laugh, saying, "Sensei, you're not going to _believe_ this one!"

-0-0-0-0-

(10 hrs earlier)

Goku and Vegeta found themselves in a blank white world. There was a profound feeling of nothing within. No gravity to tell them which way was up, no ground on which to stand, and no air with which to breathe. The two instantly began to hold their breath. There was neither pressure on their skin, nor the distinct lack that might be accompanied by the emptiness of space. Their skin could feel no sense of warmth or cold. The world around them seemed at once bright and without light, in a way indescribable to normal sense, yet it was so.

The impossible juxtaposition of it was giving Goku a headache.

_Man, this place is pretty weird. Are there even people here? What kind of creature could live in a world like this?_

He turned to Vegeta, who seemed at once both infinitely close to him, yet at the same time, infinitely distant. Their eyes conveyed to each other the words they could not say for fear of wasting their air. "Where are we?"

And then all at once, as quickly as it had come to exist, the world around them was replaced by one of constancy. They found themselves on top of a mountain they did not recognize, surrounded by the same array they had just then left behind. Surrounding them were some of the strangest figures that either of them had ever seen. They seemed to be wearing black cloaks made entirely of leather, with hoods that surrounded their faces in veils of shadow. Their feet seemed covered in boots, and their hands in gloves, each article of clothing made of the same black material.

But as the four figures that sat in the inscribed quadrants rose, their sleeves slid back for the briefest of instants. Where skin should have been revealed, there was nothing. Either their flesh was invisible, or it simply was not there.

"…Who are you?" was all Goku could think to say. Even by the standards set by his past experience with extraterrestrials, these beings were very strange to the Saiyan.

"We're the ones who called you here," replied one of the hooded figures.

"Well, you guys weren't lying huh? Man, I can feel the chakra coming off of them," laughed a voice from behind one of the cloaked men. It sounded old.

A fifth figure hopped out. This one was smaller, and even less humanoid.

"These four told me they were going to summon someone powerful, and asked me to accompany them," said Fukusaku to the two Saiyans. "And I can see they weren't kidding around. You two have to be at least Kage level. My name's Fukusaku, nice to meet you."

"Likewise," grunted Vegeta, who was flustered by the experience of being dropped into another world. "Mind telling us what that _place_ we just went through was?" he asked the hooded figures sharply.

"You speak of Mu, the nothing that exists between universes," replied a second figure. "I'm not surprised you did not enjoy the experience. I hear it can be disconcerting for most flesh and blood beings to pass through. I'm just glad you survived. The Kaioshin of your universe said you were strong, but it is still surprising. Most beings will fade away if exposed to Mu over such a distance."

"Distance?" asked Goku. "It didn't feel like we were moving."

"It is not so surprising that you did not feel that sensation. The concept of distance is rather different on that side."

"That is not important," replied the first figure, preventing the second from continuing his explanation. "We can not, unfortunately, stay here much longer. We have explained everything to Fukusaku-san. Please allow him to impart such onto you."

"With pleasure," Vegeta muttered. "None of you Kaioshin have had the decency to give us more to go on than bits and pieces."

The figures nodded as one, and faded away in unison. As they left, Goku thought to himself, _So these are the kinds of creatures that exist in that place called Mu?_

"Alright, out with it you old toad," growled Vegeta to Fukusaku. "Start from the beginning. We're looking for three other Saiyans, and I know you must know where we can find them."

The sagacious toad merely nodded, unperturbed by Vegeta's brusque manner. "They told me where they should be. They said that the reason they asked for my brief assistance was because of my close ties to where we'll be going. But it is rather far, and I can't take you there on my own. You haven't signed the contract."

"Um…" Goku interjected. "I don't know what you mean by a contract. But if you can point us in the right direction, we can fly there."

"Fly?" asked the toad, clearly surprised. "Well then, I'll explain on the way."

"Where are we going?" asked Goku. Fukusaku pointed to the east.

"In that direction, to the village of Konohagakure."

-0-0-0-0-

"We'd have been here sooner," Goku said as he finished the story of his home, and how he had arrived. "But Fukusaku-san made us walk a good bit of the way. Apparently people around here aren't used to people being able to fly," Goku laughed.

"No, we're not," nodded Sarutobi. This was beginning to become very strange. No, it had more than just begun. The brief history of Goku and Vegeta's lives had been almost too much to take in.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure he believed it. His eyes moved quickly to his most loyal student, asking a silent question.

"Fukusaku said they're really who they say they are," Jiraiya replied with a shrug. "Somehow those cloaked guys convinced him. And he's usually pretty reliable."

Sarutobi nodded, and turned his gaze back to the two Kage level warriors in front of him. He asked, in a voice which held all the authority he could muster, "Well then, in light of this, what _exactly_ do you intend to do while you're in Konoha."

"It's actually pretty simple," Goku replied. "There should be three half-Saiyans in your village. And we intend to train them to become powerful enough to defend your world from any unforeseen danger. It's been observed by the Kaioshin of both our universes that Saiyans are unusually suited to that task, so they felt it would be best if they could increase the effectiveness of your future protectors by having someone like them help unlock their unique potential."

Hiruzen nodded, with a sigh. That statement of purpose was simple enough. But as he factored it in, he had yet to decide if this was a good thing, or a bad thing for their village. "So you don't intend to return these three to your world?"

"We couldn't even if we wanted to," fumed Vegeta. "Those damn Kaioshin forgot to mention that the Mu would make things a little chaotic during any trip across universes. As it stands, the Mu's inconstancy makes it unpredictable _when _someone will end up after traversing it!"

Goku decided to interrupt before Vegeta got too enraged about that bit of news. Again. "Well, it all sort of went over my head, but I think Fukusaku-san said that all universes have some sort of… what was it? Oh, that's right. He called it a 'parallel time structure.' One minute here is the same as one minute passing in any other universe. But the Mu is different, because of its chaotic nature. By passing through it, time looses all meaning. You could come out a hundred years after you went in, ten minutes before, or even before creation. Sort of makes me feel lucky we came out so close, right Vegeta?" he laughed.

"Lucky? Like hell. We lost a damn year! The brats will be eight by now, eight and fourteen."

_Eight?_ Hiruzen mussed. _So they must be academy students, and in Naruto-kun's year. Hmm… that's a bit too much of a coincidence. What are the odds of someone like these two being in the same class as someone as strong as Naruto?_

"The Kaioshin's technique is apparently creating a bridge that'll fix that problem," Goku finished. "But we'll still be stuck on this side for a few years."

"Please, if I may?" the Sandaime asked cautiously, still unsure of the ramifications. "Describe the characteristics of a Saiyan for me. You two seem to be mostly like any other human, but if you give me something to go on, I might be able to help you. I know just about everybody in the village."

"Ok, sure! Thanks!" Goku laughed excitedly. "Well, they tend to be stronger than humans. Oh, and Vegeta once told me we gain strength after every battle. Didn't it double or something if we nearly died, Vegeta?"

"Oh for the love…" Vegeta muttered to himself. "Look, here's a full rundown, ok? Saiyans are _born_ with more power than most species in the known universe! We gain more power after every battle, nearly double if we are near death. We transform into the mighty Ozaru during a full moon, though only if we still have our tails-"

_Tails! That settles it,_ Sarutobi decided.

"I require that you make one final thing clear to me," he informed the two Saiyans, almost as an order. "What does becoming a defender of the entire world mean for their status as members of our village? Do you seek to eliminate this essential bond?"

Goku paused, unsure how to answer. He didn't know much about this world, but from what little he had learned from Fukusaku, it seemed likely that the conflicts in this world would never end. If that were to be the case, then it would be possible that acting for the good of the world might hurt _any_ individual nation, including the land of fire.

Vegeta, however, did not hesitate to show his displeasure. "You humans… no, even the humans of Earth weren't so foolish. I can't blame your idiocy on your race. What good does it do to divide yourselves into separate nations? Humans aren't there own enemies, they have much more to fear from other species, who do not feel any need to hesitate. There are plenty of other people to kill you idiots without humans killing humans."

_Well, there might be anyway,_ Goku thought to himself upon hearing this remark. _The Kaioshin didn't mention any specific threats…_

Hiruzen blinked. It seemed this man held similar beliefs to his own. They both saw only good in the uniting of humans into a single, peaceful world. The prince of Saiyans may have phrased it a little differently, but the idea was clearly there. Perhaps they weren't too different.

"But to hell with it," snarled Vegeta. "We didn't receive any indication to make us believe that these three are to do anything more in this new position beyond defending your planet from outside threats. What you do to yourselves is your own business until further notice, then. They'll fight for you if they wish to."

Hiruzen considered it for a moment, and then nodded.

"I'm unsure as to the identity of the other two, but I know of one boy who was born with a tail in our village. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Well there it is. The identity of the first Saiyan is revealed. But there isn't a single reader who didn't see that coming, and most likely no readers who don't already know the identity of the other two. I'm only really keeping the other two unrevealed because I already wrote enough to post this chapter, not out of any desire to really keep it a mystery. "The mystery of who the Saiyans in Konoha are" isn't really the focus of this story.

The identity of the cloaked figures is likely less clear. They're not entirely canon, but I needed someone to be in the Naruto universe that had the ability to help call Goku and Vegeta into it. I had a bit of fun with the whole concept in general. Originally, I was going to have Fukusaku, Shima, and two other toads (one of which might have been Gamabunta) as the Kaioshin, but this felt like it favored the Toads too much. So then I almost went with a mixed council of toads (Fukusaku again), snakes, slugs, and monkeys (probably Enma, hadn't decided) as Kaioshin. But this made it feel like Naruto's "Earth" was too unlike Goku's, due to Kaioshin living within it. And then I came up with another concept that ruined the idea of someone with as much authority as a Kaioshin living constantly on Naruto's world completely.

So I needed some outsiders to fill the role. And since there are no aliens in Naruto, I had to make up my own. The exact role they'll play is still undecided, but they should show up again at some point, so hopefully they aren't too horrible.

On the subject of stuff I made up, I rather like the concept of Mu. Bonus points for whoever can guess where I got the name from. I obviously needed a way to get Goku and Vegeta to Naruto's universe. Since there were too many stories that just proposed that Naruto lived on some sort of "Earth after an uncertain amount of time caused the culture to change," and also because I find the concept unrealistic, I decided that they should probably just exist in separate universes. However, the concept of just randomly doing something that causes some random hole in reality to randomly dump you in another universe is not only cliché at this point, but also too unbelievable.

So I knew I wanted some entity to make a calculated decision to place Goku and Vegeta in Naruto's world _on purpose_. Short of some divine omnipotent God, the Kaioshin were a pretty good bet, as far as believability. But that still left the problem of Goku's Instant Transmission, which can even take him to the Otherworld without any real effort. With that proving dimensional travel to be easy, I needed a way to keep them locked in one world, or they'd just jump around constantly. So Mu was born.

That being said, I really like the concept. I'll probably use it again if I ever want to crossover two worlds that don't already have a good way to coexist (like, for example, the self-explanatory Kingdom Hearts crossover).


	3. Enter the Saiyans

**Enter the Saiyans**

"Good work, Sasuke. That was a perfect shot," Iruka said proudly to the Uchiha heir. Today his students were practicing the throwing of shuriken, and as with most things, the last Uchiha excelled far beyond any of the other students.

"Hn," was the boy's only response as he walked to the target, a tree with a bull's-eye painted on it, to retrieve his shuriken. They were clustered in the center.

Looking down on his list, Iruka called the last name on the alphabetical list. "Uzumaki, Naruto, your turn."

The blond (Note: I don't remember if I changed it in past chapters but blond is for girls and blond is for guys like brunette is for girls and brunet is for guys) grinned, and ran up enthusiastically to take his turn. A little too enthusiastically, it seemed, as the boy nearly slid into the tree trying to stop his rapid momentum. Iruka let out a sigh. Naruto was one of the strangest cases he'd ever seen in his time at the Academy, brief as it was. The boy could very well be the strongest person in the group as far as taijutsu went. But in all things, the boy simply lacked any self control.

Naruto had always had the most stamina, even more than many jounin Iruka knew, which was, needless to say, very odd to the young chuunin. But as a consequence of having had that power dumped in his lap all at once, or so it seemed to the scarred chuunin, he lacked chakra control, and as a result, was the worst student in the class in just about every way beyond pure, raw potential.

Until recently, that had been all of the boy's trouble, Iruka observed as Naruto retreated to a more appropriate distance. But a little more than a year ago, the boy had suddenly started dropping in and out of the academy with a strange, irregular frequency. Supposedly, it was do to hospitalization, but how could the blond drop in and out of the hospital so often?

That wasn't even the strange part though. Each time Naruto had come back, he seemed to be a lot faster, stronger, and had even more stamina. For a good few months, Naruto dropped in and out of class, and for a few months, the boy's power began to skyrocket, but still the boy lagged behind just about everyone. As with his chakra, his strange power was simply dumped in his lap too quickly. The boy had lost all control over his own strength.

"Ok Iruka-sensei! Watch this!" Naruto grinned as he tossed the shuriken. They slammed into the ground, digging themselves halfway into the earth.

Even to this day, Naruto was still trying to gain that vital control.

"Well, we still need to work on our aim a little," Iruka chuckled playfully, to the boy's mortification. "But still, that was a powerful throw Naruto!"

"Yeah…" he muttered. No need to rub it in…

Naruto easily pulled the shuriken out of the ground, but pulled so hard he fell over in the process. The class, minus the ever brooding Sasuke, and though Naruto would not notice it, the timid Hinata, laughed.

As the pariah walked back into their midst, he overheard one of the boys whisper, "I asked my dad 'bout it, he thinks it's got something to do with some sort of demon…"

"Really?" whispered another.

"Yeah, but mom said not to believe a word he says. Said he was 'drunk,' whatever that means."

Naruto gritted his teeth. The boy's father may have been drunk, but Naruto knew what he meant. The village blamed his explosive strength on the damn fox.

"Ok, now we'll move on to some light sparing. We'll pair up in the usual way, alphabetically," Iruka commanded. "Ok, you know who your partners are, get into groups, and begin. Mizuki and I will supervise."

The children, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, paired up alphabetically. That put Naruto with Sasuke.

"Ready to get your ass kicked again, dobe?" asked Sasuke with an arrogant smirk.

Naruto got into his stance without a word, annoyance clear in his gaze. He was tired of getting beaten up by Sasuke, damn it!

Iruka watched the two carefully. He had paired the two up on purpose again. The simple fact was Iruka seemed to always pair the two up. Naruto could overwhelm almost everyone in the class in taijutsu with sheer force, and Iruka knew it. He was simply too fast for a bunch of eight year olds. Yet Naruto still had the worst grades in the class in taijutsu, because Iruka always paired him up with the worst opponent for him, one way or another.

There were only three people in the class that really had a chance to defeat Naruto in a straight taijutsu fight. One of them was Kiba, who as an Inuzuka fought almost exclusively with taijutsu, but because the boy wasn't more than near genin level currently, and because the Inuzuka style focused heavily on overpowering opponents anyway, the boy could still be overwhelmed by Naruto on some of the blond's better days. Another was Hinata, who as a Hyuuga also fought almost exclusively in taijutsu. Even though the Jyuuken was perfect against Naruto, as it was built to exploit the very same weaknesses the boy currently had, namely unstable stances and unrefined attacks, she was too timid and too unwilling to hurt her obvious crush to fight all out against Naruto. For that reason, she lost every time, sometimes on purpose.

Then there was Uchiha Sasuke, whose style relied even more on exploiting the opponent's own momentum than the Jyuuken did. Designed to be used with the Sharingan, the Uchiha style of taijutsu predicted enemy movements in order to use them against them. With Naruto's clumsy, inefficient style of fighting, it was very easy for Sasuke to overwhelm him.

That was exactly why Iruka always had them fight each other. The truth was, grades mattered very little in the academy. It was designed solely to pump out ninja in the quickest manner possible. Students were simply funneled from year to year until they eventually passed the final exams. Those who didn't failed to be ninja. Those who did were obviously good enough, grades or no grades. So while Naruto's failing grades never actually hurt the blond's chances of becoming a shinobi, so long as he did eventually get good enough to pass the exam, training him against Sasuke was the perfect way to force Naruto to fix his shortcomings.

Progress, however, was slow…

Naruto ran at Sasuke, cocking back his fist to deliver a blow straight to the head, but as the blond approached the Uchiha, he ducked his head slightly to the side, letting Naruto's fist miss him by inches. A subsequent high kick to Naruto's face, followed by two sharp blows to the chest destabilized Naruto. Sasuke followed up the combo by lowering himself to the ground to sweep his legs out from under him. As the kid fell to the ground, Sasuke finished his combo. He pushed off the ground with his hands, flipping over forward, and landing on the blond dobe. He pushed off from his position on Naruto's stomach, and landed next to the boy's head.

Naruto lay on the ground sputtering for air. Iruka was forced to declare Sasuke the winner.

"Come on dobe, you can do better than that," Sasuke taunted, leaning over the pariah. "Surely if you try hard enough, you can last a whole thirty seconds?"

With a growl of rage, Naruto shot a fist up from his position on the ground, trying to catch Sasuke's chin. Instead the Uchiha, who could see the punch coming from a mile away even without his yet-to-be-activated Sharingan grabbed Naruto's arm, and flipped him over, twisting the limb behind his back.

"Useless," Sasuke smirked triumphantly.

"That's enough you two," Iruka scolded, getting between the two to break up the fight. "Class is dismissed for the day."

Sasuke just continued to smirk as he walked away. Naruto got up, anger burning fiercely, and ran off.

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled as the rest of the class left, but it was too late to catch the blond blur.

"You did better today…" Iruka tried to reassure thin air.

-0-0-0-0-

"Damn it… Damn it… Damn it!" Naruto swore as he punched at the walls of his apartment. Holes opened up in the walls with each strike.

"Why can't I beat him?" Naruto growled to himself.

That was when the knock came at his door. The genin in training paled slightly. That would be the landlord, come to demand reparations for the holes Naruto had just beat into the wall. Of course, he'd also demand something extra out of spite for the damn fox.

-0-0-0-0-

Goku tried the door again, knocking three times in rapid succession as he stared around the hall. The place had a distinct order of decay in the wood. Paint pealed off the walls, and the light in the windowless corridor flickered. Quite simply, the place ought to be condemned, and from the rust on the hinges of the door, Goku didn't believe the apartment would be any better.

An eight year old lives here? Things really must be pretty bad for the little guy after all…

Just then the door opened, and a child with yellow hair, blue eyes, and strange whisker marks on his cheeks stared out. He wore a look of uneasy apology on his face.

"I'm sorry, really, but I don't have any money beyond what I need to pay the rent right now!" he blurted out nervously.

It was only then that he seemed to get a good look at Goku. His eyes turned from nervous, not quite scared but still uneasy Goku noted, to confused.

"Hey, you're not the landlord!" he laughed in relief. "Man, I thought you'd come to yell at me about putting holes in the wall."

"No, I'm not. Though I did ear some strange noise on the way here, was that you?" he asked playfully.

"Huh? Um, I guess it was," Naruto laughed nervously.

"May I come in?" Goku asked, getting to the point of his visit.

Naruto's eyes narrowed a little suspiciously, but he shrugged.

"Sure, who's stopping you? Heck, the lock's broken anyway."

Naruto lead Goku inside, while the Saiyan added the lousy lock to the list. He looked around the room as he entered. Aside from the fresh holes in the wall, there were a few mouse holes, and a broken window. Not to mention the place was an absolute pigsty, but what could be expected from an eight year old living on his own?

He doesn't have much money left over after paying for a dump like this? From what that Hokage guy told me, he receives a pretty good check to cover living expenses…

"So what are you doing here anyway?" Naruto asked.

"…Hm…" Goku responded, acting as if he were considering something. "Do you… like living here, Naruto?"

The boy looked a little puzzled, probably surprised the Saiyan knew his name. "Not really, I mean, it's a home!" Naruto laughed. "But it's sort of old and smelly. Not like I can afford much better, at least until I'm a ninja. Why?"

Goku frowned, and silently handed Naruto some papers. The boy grabbed them, and looked over them quickly. His eyes lit up in recognition. He'd asked the old man to show him these a million times, each time fantasizing that they were being handed to him by some kindhearted member of Konoha. But no such man existed, to Naruto's knowledge. Yet now, this strange man Naruto didn't recognize had handed him… signed adoption papers.

"Are you serious?" Naruto gasped, mouth agape in sheer shock.

"I am. And while I don't have the place set up just yet, by the end of the day we'll have somewhere else to live besides this… er… place."

Naruto seemed to just freeze up. His mind couldn't process what was happening. It was… unreal.

"What's your name… otou-san?"

"I'm Son Goku."

I guess that makes me Son Naruto," the boy grinned brightly, fighting back the tears of sheer happiness.

-0-0-0-0-

"Damn it… there's no lead on the other two Saiyans…" Vegeta swore to himself as he wondered through the village.

There was simply no other solution but to wonder through the village, looking for any sign that there was something more than human lurking about. They had to be here, after all. The Kaioshin had no reason to lie.

With their incredible story, it's hard not to wonder if they're just screwing with me, but then a boy with a tail turns up. So the question is, where's the other one?

As he continued to walk, he caught something suspicious out of the corner of his eye. A restaurant was near, an establishment that sold barbecue. Of course, it was the inhabitants that were interesting. Two customers, each on opposite sides of the establishment, seemed to be inhaling the food in rather astonishing amounts.

One was a… pleasantly plump boy, sitting beside his father, who was even larger. Between the two lay twenty different entrées. They were carrying on a rather enthused, friendly conversation. Of course, the full blooded Saiyan might be around the age of the father, but they were already dead, according to the Kaioshin. Still, one had been a woman, so it could be the mother…

Well they certainly eat like Saiyans, but I'll be damned if I acknowledge the little fat ass that easily.

The other interesting occupant was a little boy, the same age as the fatso, but decidedly more physically fit. He wore a very dark shirt, which matched up with his jet black hair and eyes. In front of him was an assortment of foods nearly as large as that of the other two, but he ate more gracefully. To top it all off, he was all alone.

"Boy, what's your name?" Vegeta asked as he walked up to the lone child.

"Uchiha Sasuke," he replied in a rather bored voice. "Why?"

The hair is typical, the appetite is Saiyan like, and he doesn't have any remaining parents. Not to mention that look in his eye, there's some determination in there. This Uchiha Sasuke could be the one.

"Do you want to become stronger, boy?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the man, appraising him. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.

That was answer enough for Vegeta.

"Come with me kid, we're going to go see the Hokage."

-0-0-0-0-

"What are we doing out in the middle of the forest?" asked Naruto, for the third time since they left the walls of the village.

"We're not in the middle of the forest," Goku corrected. "We're only a kilometer from Konoha. Anyway, we're meeting a friend here."

"A friend? Out here?"

"So this is the other one?" came a voice from behind the two. Naruto turned quickly in surprise only to see Vegeta walking not three feet from where the two Son's had been walking not moments before.

"Oh," Goku replied. "I didn't expect to see you here so soon Vegeta. Weren't you looking for the other one."

"I found some kid who's probably the other brat."

"Hn…" Sasuke grunted as he came into view, "I still don't see why I have to come here with you just because the Hokage told me to…"

Sasuke eyed Naruto. Naruto eyed Sasuke. Both blinked in astonishment.

"You!" Naruto pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"What's the dobe doing here?" Sasuke glared at Vegeta.

"So this is the kid, Goku?" asked Vegeta, examining the blond from a distance.

Hmm… he has a good bit of ki for his age. No where near a Saiyan elite, but still strong. But what's with the blond hair? He can't have reached the level of Super Saiyan so soon. Well, maybe it's just some weird genetic anomaly. I mean, Trunks has purple hair, and he's half-Saiyan too.

"To answer your question, Sasuke, this boy's the other half-Saiyan," Vegeta revealed.

For a moment, there was silence.

"What's a Saiyan?" Naruto asked.

"More on that in a bit," Goku assured Naruto. "First, we need to get a roof over our heads. Vegeta, you have the capsule, right?"

"Yeah, one second," he replied, pulling out a large metal capsule. It disappeared in a burst of smoke, revealing a menagerie of multicolored, normal sized capsules.

"I don't know why the woman even bothered to pack these all up separately like this…"

With an unceremonious toss, the capsule released a burst of smoke that overwhelmed the group of Saiyans. Naruto started to cough a bit as he inhaled accidentally.

"What the heck was… that?" Naruto began to yell, before his complaint was caught in his throat. Before them stood a crude, but monolithic, structure. A simple square, metallic box, the only indication of what might lie inside was the door that stood at the forest floor. Otherwise, the monolith was a smooth, featureless cube notable only for its height, well above the forest canopy.

"Wow, Bulma really put her all into this one," Goku proclaimed in admiration.

"Yes, she did," Vegeta replied curtly, annoyed by his wife's generosity.

She was just going to give this to Kakarrot…?

Naruto and Sasuke followed Goku and Vegeta towards the structure with a degree of caution. As they arrived at the door, they saw no way to open it, save a key pad on the side. Goku moved towards the keypad, and almost started to key in the combination, before hesitating. He quickly shifted his weight to the side a little, as if to block the pad from view.

"The password is 'Namek,'" Goku said to their two charges, in a soft whisper. "'N-A-M-E-K,' got it?"

"Yeah, sure." Naruto replied in a much louder voice. Sasuke merely nodded as Goku punched it in.

"Ok, then get inside," Goku said in his normal voice. As the others complied, Goku looked over his shoulder, into the trees, before following them.

-0-0-0-0-

A young Hinata ducked quickly behind her tree as the Saiyan looked towards her, hoping she hadn't been caught. Her heart pounded in her ears as she drew short, panicking breaths.

Who is he? What should I do? Is Naruto in trouble?

When Naruto had stormed off from the earlier training session, she knew she just had to see if he was ok or not, so she followed him. He was far too fast for her though and she had lost him halfway to his apartment. Unable to tell which way he went, she had decided to check his favorite eatery, Ichiraku's Ramen, but of course, he hadn't been there.

So she knew he had to be home. There would be no chance of anyone going out to train so soon after being beaten into the ground so thoroughly, not even Naruto, and there really weren't all that many places the blond was welcome…

As she went to check on her secret crush, she had fought with herself over what to do when she arrived. Unable to bring herself to speak with him, yet equally desiring to comfort him if he was taking his recent loss hard, she ultimately arrived at a stalemate, unable to decide.

The importance of the decision diminished sharply on her arrival. Choosing to scan the apartments with her byakugan before forcing an end to the ultimatum, she found a man she did not recognize leading her crush out of the building. A sense of dread had overcome her as she saw the incredible amount of chakra he had within him. This man had to be a high rated Shinobi.

She shut her eyes down immediately. She wasn't all that good at hiding her chakra, not like Hanabi. She couldn't hope to hide herself if she used here eyes while pursuing this man.

Who was this man? What did he want with Naruto?

So now she was slumped against a tree, barely able to keep herself from hyperventilating. She had to keep her breathing soft, soundless. She had to still her heart before its pounding gave her away. She did not dare use her eyes; he'd almost caught her already, but they were already inside. What were they doing in there?

"Naruto-kun…" she choked out under her breath, inaudible.

-0-0-0-0-

The inner structure of the monolith was like a multi-compartmented box. The walls formed perfect square rooms, each extremely spacious. Between each square was a smaller hall with three doors: one into each adjacent square and one leading to a staircase. The stairs lead up to a large observation chamber. Though, like the halls, the chamber was much less wide than the rooms themselves. It wound about so as to circle every one of the larger rooms from every angle along the uppermost section of the walls. There was a ceiling much lower than the top of the structure, indicating many more floors above, which was reaffirmed by the presence of stairs in the center-most room. Only accessible from a protrusion of the observation chamber, which stretched from one side of the center room to the other through the center point, this spiraling staircase seemed to be the only way up to the higher floors.

It was from this protrusion, right near the stairs in the center, that Goku ended his first floor tour.

"Well, the other five floors are pretty much like this, right Vegeta?" asked Goku.

"Well, the entire sixth floor is all one big room," Vegeta corrected. "It holds the supercomputer that can control everything else."

"Oh, right. But still, we'll get to that later. What do you guys think so far?"

Sasuke stared out at the structure before him. He noted the dobe at his side, who couldn't seem to speak from sheer shock at the arrangement. Sasuke had to admit he too was impressed, though not quite as much. The walls of the observation chamber, including the floor of the protrusion, were made of a nearly invisible material that allowed one to only barely note its presence. Vegeta had assured him it was just as hard to break as all the other walls. As Sasuke stared through to the room below, he noted the shine of the seamless metallic walls of the large rooms. They shone with the color of pure chrome, which added to the expensive, industrial effect of the structure. Yet, Sasuke couldn't escape the feeling of mechanical soullessness of the entire thing. Though impressed by the clearly expensive, high class quality of these men's home, it was all too unseemly foreign, alien, inhuman.

"It's ok," he shrugged.

"…Ok?" Naruto sputtered. "It's amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it," Goku grinned. "This is where we'll be living from now on, Naruto."

"Really? No way! Even the Hokage probably doesn't have a place this cool!"

"I'm sure the Hokage's mansion is a lot more aesthetically refined than this cube, dobe," Sasuke cut in, rolling his eyes. But I have to admit, the thick walls and lack of entrances make this place nigh impenetrable…

"You're just jealous," Naruto grinned. "I bet you wish you could live here."

"That remains to be seen," Vegeta cut in. "So come on now, down to the main chamber.

Naruto and Sasuke both stared dumbfounded at Vegeta as he walked towards the central chamber.

"What do you mean 'remains to be seen'?" they both demanded at the same time, eerily within the same mind at the moment.

"The fact is, we're the closest thing to family you have, Naruto," Goku replied, skirting around the issue a little. "At the same time, there's someone else in the village who we share an equal bond with. And… we think this person might be you, Sasuke."

"Bullshit," he scowled. "You two are not my family," he growled dangerously. "Just who the hell are you anyway?"

Vegeta sent Sasuke a glare that nearly made his blood freeze. "We are Saiyans," he said curtly. "And you might be too, half way anyway. So I guess you can say we're all part of the same clan here," he said, drawing on his uncertain knowledge of this world.

"You keep saying that," Naruto grumbled, still unhappy about this new turn of events, but accepting what Goku said a little better than Sasuke. "Saiyan. What does that even mean?"

"Like we said, we'll explain better in a bit," Goku reassured them. "And we won't force you to call us family if you don't want to," he continued, focusing on Sasuke. "But the fact is, if you are the other one, then we're all part of a group here."

"Tch," Sasuke relented. "Whatever. You don't even have any way of knowing if I'm who you think I am anyway. I'm out of here."

He began to move past Vegeta, but the Saiyan prince grabbed his arm quickly, holding him in place.

"Let go of me!" Sasuke growled, struggling futilely against Vegeta's grip.

"Listen kid, I don't know what family issues you have, and I don't really give a damn, but if you are who we think you are, then we have something you want. Power."

Sasuke froze, ceasing his struggling. "Power…?"

Vegeta nodded, "I thought that might get your attention. Yes, if we're inviting you into our little clan here, that comes with access to our unique skills."

He's offering to teach me his clan's techniques…? Sasuke thought to himself. That's not something that happens every day.

Although he refused to believe any clan could be superior to the Uchiha, Sasuke heard a chance at defeating Itachi in those words. If he could combine whatever advantage made these two so confident with his own Uchiha superiority, maybe he could gain an edge.

"You guys are going to train us? Naruto asked excitedly.

Goku smiled at the energy that seemed to enter the child at the mention of training. "Yep, speed, strength, and techniques, everything."

Vegeta released Sasuke. He didn't try to leave.

"I don't need help from some weaklings," Sasuke scowled, causing Vegeta's face to twitch slightly in annoyance. "How do I know you two are worth my time?"

Vegeta instantly focused his energy in anger. The room began to shake as Vegeta released half his power level, without a sound. Sasuke could feel chakra bleeding into the air like some sort of monster was before him. His eyes widened in fear as he felt the force beat down on him. His breathing became labored as he fell to one knee from the pressure.

Naruto barely felt the energy around him, at least in comparison. His senses weren't developed in the least, and Vegeta seemed focused on Sasuke more than on him, but even he couldn't mistake the sensation running through him as Vegeta's power filled the air around him. Even the ground shook around them.

As fast as it started, it was over. Vegeta powered down seconds after powering up.

What was that…? Naruto thought, shocked into silence.

That power… it rivaled even the Third! No… it wasn't by much but… it dwarfed the Third Hokage! And the way he unleashed it… I've only ever seen one other person do something like that…

"What was…?" Sasuke managed to get out as he gasped air, taking advantage of the removal of pressure on his lungs.

"That was me displaying half of my power," Vegeta replied contemptuously. "So then, who's weak now…?"

No way! That's impossible… no one could have twice as much chakra as the Third…

"I'll stay," Sasuke nodded. "If you can teach me to do that."

You're a million years too early to match that," Vegeta spat. "But let's see just how close you are. Both of you, down to the training area. It's time for you to give a demonstration."

-0-0-0-0-

"What… is this…?" Hinata gasped as she felt a wave of chakra leave from the metallic cube. What was happening within? Were they fighting?

The feeling of power threatened to crush her senses. She felt the pressure on her lungs, and ceased to breathe. This power was certainly within kage level. If Naruto had gotten himself in a fight with a kage level ninja…

The power faded away quickly, and Hinata could breathe again. She held her breath for another ten seconds. The fight, if there was one, had ended.

Naruto-kun!

Hinata sprang to her feet, preparing to run back to Konoha. She had to do what she should have done from the beginning. She had to tell someone Naruto was in trouble.

But before she could escape, there was the hiss of a mechanized door opening. The Hyuuga heiress froze in place, not daring to make a sound. Someone was leaving.

"Hey, whoever is out there, you might as well come out," came a remarkably lighthearted voice from the artificial clearing. "I know you're there."

Hinata's eyes widened in horror. He knew…

She hardened her resolve, and activated her eyes. She could suddenly see that the man was the same shinobi who had taken Naruto from his apartment. She raised her arms in preparation to fight as she stepped out from behind her hiding place. To her shame, she was trembling. But she would not run.

"Oh, I didn't expect you to be so young," the man smiled. "I'm Goku. What's your name?"

"Hyuuga H-Hinata," she replied.

"Ok, now, why don't you relax a little? We don't have to fight you know. I was just curious about why you're here."

The young girl became confused, but didn't let down her guard. What a curious kidnapper.

"I saw you taking Naruto away, and I followed you," she admitted. No point denying anything at this point. A thorough enemy would never let her escape now.

Goku blinked, "You were worried about Naruto? Wow, I wasn't expecting that. The Hokage said most people didn't like him."

"You've s-spoken to the Hokage?" she asked in shock.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I have? Naruto's a ward of the state, so I needed to ask his permission before I could adopt Naruto."

Hinata's face turned red. Adoption? Is… is that what this is?

"Well, I can see you're rather protective of Naruto," Goku laughed. "Maybe you'd like to come in and say hello?"

"Prove what you say is true," she insisted.

"Ok, here's some documentation with the Hokage's seal on them," Goku agreed, pulling out Naruto's adoption papers. With her enhanced vision, Hinata could see even across the distance between them that they were authentic.

"G-gomen!" she stuttered, face turning a beat red as she relaxed her fighting stance. Her fingers twiddled together. "I thought you were…"

"It's ok. It's nice to see someone is looking out for Naruto," Goku laughed. "Come on, I bet he'd like to meet with you. You can train with us, if you'd like."

Hinata shook her head in refusal. "I-I couldn't. I mean… I h-have t-to go."

She turned away and ran. Just the idea of going into this man's home after that incident was bad enough, but the idea of talking with Naruto on top of that was too much.

"Well, ok," Goku shouted to her as she ran. "But the invitation's still open if you change your mind!"

As the Saiyan turned to go back inside, his thoughts were troubled.

Why would she just assume I was going to hurt Naruto?

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Well, it needs to be addressed sooner or later, but here's how issues of power will work in this story. While I might exaggerate the strength of canon Naruto characters a bit, particularly everyone who isn't receiving training from Goku and Vegeta, as the ones who are will be justifiably stronger, I'm going to have to ask for your willing suspension of disbelief on the elephant in the room of this topic.

DBZ characters can blow up planets. Even the Bijuu are only, at best, capable of causing earthquakes, Tsunami's, etc. Obviously, there's a large disparity in power there, and I won't really be addressing that so much in this fic. Why? Because it's boring!

For every major enemy in the Naruto universe, there's suddenly Goku and Vegeta, here to combat them. And at their real level of power, Vegeta and Goku would kill Pain, Madara, the Nine Tailed Fox, Orochimaru, Gaara, and the rest of the Akatsuki (excluding Hidan) in ten minutes, max, if they faced them all at once. Then they would go to Ichiraku's, pig out, and call it a day. Heck, they might even kill Hidan, depending on his immortality powers handled being atomized by a Kamehameha, and they'd still incapacitate him if they couldn't kill him.

There you go. I just ended the story in a single paragraph under those conditions. Yawning yet?

So for the purposes of this story, Vegeta and Goku are roughly equivalent to kage level ninja, in terms of fighting ability, without going Super Saiyan. I could make up some excuse about how traveling through Mu sealed their powers, but really, I don't want to insult your intelligence. By the same token, I left their power as kage out of Super Saiyan, because if they had to go all the way to SSJ3 to combat a kage, that would leave them at genin level out of it and, by the same token, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by claiming that.

Within Super Saiyan, we're going to fudge the numbers and say they're roughly equal to a Bijuu. Whether or not a Bijuu is really fifty times the strength of a kage exactly is hard to say, but even Toriyama fudges the numbers on "Super Saiyans are fifty times more powerful" thing.

So, yes, if they went Super Saiyan, they could probably beat anyone in this fic, save one person. No, its not who you think it is. Unless it is.

But I feel I can realistically say that they wouldn't, for various reasons (no I won't say here, that I can address in story). So it works.

So sorry, this story is not "Saiyans appear and freakin' own those lamers man!" There's no tension in that.


	4. A Unique Problem

**A Unique Problem**

As Goku walked back into the cube, Vegeta caught sight of him. He whispered to him, "Where were you?"

"No where," Goku replied absently. "Just checking something outside."

Continuing loud enough for the children to hear, Goku announced, "Ok, so first, let's see one of your katas. This will let us see what your academy has been teaching you and how good you are at it."

"You first runt," Vegeta said, looking at Sasuke.

Grunting in annoyance at being called 'runt,' Sasuke slid into a basic fighting stance and took in a cleansing breath. He suddenly snapped into action, sending three punches through the air in front of him before sliding his leg to the side slightly. Pivoting on the leg, Sasuke spun about with his other leg out to give it momentum before striking an invisible enemy at the end of the circle. He ended the routine by jumping diagonally off his kicking leg as he brought it back down, landing in a crouched position at what would be his opponent's left side before performing a leg sweep, and slamming his elbow just above the ground, as if breaking the enemy's ribs.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "What a fancy little pirouette there. Well, you're next boy," he indicated to Naruto.

Naruto nodded, lowering into a similar stance, so much more tension in his muscles that his arms seemed to jitter about slightly. With the same explosion of movement, Naruto sent three punches out, noting with a smirk that they were much faster than Sasuke's. However, as he began to spin on one foot, he couldn't compensate for the momentum his faster spin created, and fell to the floor. Catching himself with his arm, he found Vegeta's flat palm on his chest before he could get back up.

_How did he move so fast…?_ Naruto gaped.

"Clumsy, aren't we?" Vegeta smirked. "You're dead."

Goku stood back, observing Naruto's failure, contemplating. _Hmm, is it simple clumsiness, or…?_

Sasuke smirked as Vegeta 'killed' Naruto. Unfortunately for him, this did not go unnoticed by the Saiyan prince, who turned on him. "Do it again," he growled. "This time, you're going to try to hit me."

Sasuke nodded, lowering into a stance. Vegeta stepped away from Naruto, who collapsed to the ground. As Sasuke watched Vegeta move, he calculated where to strike.

_This isn't fair…_ he growled inside his mind. But his pride wouldn't let him say it out loud. He suddenly snapped into action again. One punch to Vegeta's chin, which the Saiyan batted aside easily. A second to his chest, but Vegeta simply blocked that one with his palm. Finally, Sasuke switched from the third punch to an uppercut, hoping to catch Vegeta before he could switch his guard, but to no avail. His foot slid to the side in preparation for his next move, and Vegeta took the opportunity to kick the offending leg. Sasuke slide to the floor, legs splayed to either side in a painful position. Vegeta poked him in the forehead, causing him to fall backwards.

"Pathetic," Vegeta muttered. "I can see we'll have to start with both of you from scratch."

Naruto wasn't in the mood to laugh at Sasuke after being knocked about himself. However, as Vegeta began to rant under his breath, Goku tapped Naruto on the shoulder. "Hey," he said, "Come with me for a second."

Naruto nodded, standing up. As the two walked into the opposite corner of the room, Goku took out some cloth. "Here, feel this."

As Naruto took the cloth, he gasped as it nearly pulled him to the ground by his arms.

"This is heavy!" he growled through the strain. Goku nodded, taking the weight from him.

"Tell you what, it's just about dinner time, and I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. How about we go get something to eat. You can choose where," he grinned, seeing Naruto's eyes light up at that. "After that, we'll go out shopping for a bit before coming back here, ok?"

"Shopping…?" Naruto asked.

"Well, we'll need some new furniture for the house," Goku laughed, gesturing around. "We can't hope to get any rest sleeping on cold metal. We'll need some other things as well," Goku added cryptically.

"Ok, let's go!" Naruto grinned.

"Well," Goku interrupted before the boy could get ahead of himself. "First, I want to see you perform your kata again."

Naruto's face fell. "You're really going to make me do that again?"

Goku nodded, "Try to see if you can hit me, ok?"

Naruto sighed, and got into his position. He quickly sent all three punches in rapid succession, aiming all three at Goku's chest, not daring to aim too high or low, for fear of loosing control. Goku dodged all three by weaving side to side, closing his eyes. Noticing this, Naruto got annoyed, and began the spin kick. However, he began to loose control again, but before he could fall, Goku rushed behind him, catching him. Taking the chance, Naruto sent a strike to his face, but Goku caught it with one hand.

"Very good," Goku nodded. "You didn't take the easy way out, and continued the exercise to the end."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto mumbled, annoyed at having nearly fallen again. "Can we go now?"

"Sure," Goku laughed. The two left Vegeta and Sasuke to their business.

-0-0-0-0-

As Naruto and Goku approached Ichiraku's (where else would Naruto eat?), Goku contemplated what he had learned in the training room.

_I was right. Naruto has a very unique problem. Judging from the force behind that last punch, and the speed from which he launches attacks, he has strength far beyond what is normal for his age but he can't control it. He doesn't know how to compensate, because…_

That last bit was what kept puzzling Goku. No matter how many times he went over it in his head, he couldn't figure out how Naruto could have arrived at this condition.

_He would have had to spontaneously gain a great deal of strength over a very short period of time. But how did it happen? Well, with his hair color, he might be stuck in Super Saiyan but… that's ludicrous,_ Goku sighed, shaking his head.

"Um… what's wrong, Goku?" Naruto asked, confused.

"Nothing," Goku reassured him with a smile. Well_, his ki hasn't fluctuating in a Super Saiyan's aura, not even once. His inner ki feels like it's flowing very chaotically,_ Goku noted, closing his eyes to enhance his senses. _But it's not like a Super Saiyan really… it's chaotic, but not as energetic. To have this level of ki flow… he'd have to be way more accustomed to the transformation than he seems to be from his lack of control._

Opening his eyes, Goku resigned himself to the truth. _There's only one other way he could have this power. Anyway, now I know my plan will work._

"I'm telling you otou-san; this is the best place in town, hands down!" Naruto exclaimed, yet again. "And the owner and his daughter are really nice too!"

"Really?" Goku laughed. "Well, that's good. I don't want my first meal in your village soured by unpleasant company," he laughed.

As the two sat down at the counter, two other people who had yet to receive their meals scowled, and left in disgust. Goku raised an eyebrow at that, but he knew why. Naruto pretended not to notice.

_Stupid fox…_ he thought to himself.

"Order up!" Teuchi said boisterously as he placed two bowls of ramen on the counter, only to find his customers gone. "Huh, wonder where they went off to in such a hurry…" Teuchi said, shrugging it off.

"Hey," Goku gestured to Teuchi, "since they're gone, why don't you let us eat that?" he grinned. "I'll cover the bill."

"Sure!" he laughed, placing one bowl in front of each of them. "Hey Naruto, I didn't expect to see you here," Teuchi noted. "Who's your friend? I don't think I've ever seen him around the village."

"I'm Son Goku," Goku introduced himself as Naruto dug into the ramen. "I'm new to town. I'm a distant relative of Naruto's."

"No kidding?" Teuchi asked, slightly bemused.

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned, butting in. "He's even adopted me!"

Ichiraku gave a big smile. "Wow, that's great news! Tell you what, this ramen's on me in celebration!"

"Wow, free ramen! Thanks!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Well, I know Naruto here will eat more than that," Teuchi smiled, taking out a notepad to take their order. "So what will you be having today?"

Naruto ordered as Goku looked at their selection. "Well, I don't really know what's good so I'll take one of everything, I guess," Goku grinned.

Teuchi blinked. "You really are related to Naruto," he said, shaking his head. "One of everything, coming up."

As the ramen cook started preparing his bowls, he asked, "So where are you from?"

"Far away," Goku said, evading the question. "You've probably never heard of my home town, it's quite a distance."

"Do you have shinobi there?" he asked.

"You're talking to one," Naruto grinned. "See the metal cube out past the walls?" Naruto asked, pointing beyond the walls to the slightly visible structure of his new home. "Goku summoned that with some sort of storage seal!"

"So that's where that thing came from?" Teuchi asked. "A lot of the people around here kind of panicked when they saw that, you know? Some of the shinobi must have thought it was an enemy weapon or something."

"…The cube, a weapon?" asked Goku, a little amused.

"Yeah, I had some customers in here a few minutes ago who got called away to go check it out."

"Well, they needn't have bothered," Goku laughed. "Vegeta and I aren't an enemy invasion."

"Um… shouldn't we go warn the others?" Naruto asked, a little worried. Vegeta was strong, but who knows what kind of shinobi had gone to investigate?

"Nah, Vegeta can handle himself." Goku reassured him as their first bowls of ramen arrived.

-0-0-0-0-

"Ok, Sasuke," Vegeta barked like a drill sergeant. "Your first task is to clear the trees our home destroyed."

The two were out in the middle of the clearing. Sasuke looked around at the destruction warily. Most of the trees around the cube had been pulled out of the ground by the roots, a good number of which had snapped far before the full complexity of the root structure could be revealed. These trees toppled like dominoes, slamming into others around them, snapping both into pieces. The debris was extraordinary.

"You want me to clear this all out? By myself…?"

"Yes," Vegeta said. "You'll have to break them apart into small enough pieces to fit them through the door, and store the wood in one of the back rooms. We can sell the timber as firewood, or something."

…_Is training with this guy really worth doing his chores for him?_ "What'll that do? I thought we were training."

"Idiot," Vegeta muttered. "This is a strength building exercise, designed to increase the power of your arms."

"…Fine, let's say I buy that. Where are your tools?"

Vegeta smirked, "Goku will pick up an ax in town. Until then, you will be chopping the wood with your bare hands."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "I can't do that!"

"Take all the time you need," Vegeta sighed. "So long as you work."

"No, I mean I _can't_ do that!"

Before Vegeta could retort, two men in Anbu masks leaped down into the clearing. One was wearing the mask of an eagle, the other of a monkey. Both looked around the clearing, betraying no emotions.

"Identify yourself," the eagle said to Vegeta.

"My name is Vegeta," Vegeta responded. "Prince of all Saiyans."

They looked to each other. "Saiyan?"

Vegeta sighed in frustration. "You could call us a clan of sorts."

"Where are you from, Vegeta?"

"Far away," Vegeta said vaguely.

"That's not good enough, prince," replied the monkey masked Anbu. "We need to know what your purpose in erecting this metallic siege engine."

"Siege… what?" Vegeta growled. "Look, you've got it wrong. This is just a base we set up."

"A base?" the eagle asked. "Right outside Konoha? Who sent you?"

"Look, nobody sent me!" Vegeta yelled in frustration.

"This is your last warning," the monkey said, getting in a fighting stance. "Where are you from?"

"I'm not here to do anything to Konoha!" Vegeta responded, annoyance escalating. "Don't you dimwits understand?"

Vegeta suddenly felt a source of ki rushing up behind him. He grabbed the arm of a third Anbu member, this one a lion, just as he was about to slice off the Saiyan prince's head. Vegeta jumped up, and flew high in the air at high speeds, reaching a seemingly impossible height.

To those one the ground it practically looked like the two had vanished into the air.

_He's…fast…!_ Sasuke thought to himself, stunned. _This power is beyond anything I have ever seen. This is the power of a kage…?_

Vegeta kicked the Anbu down to the ground, but disappeared in a rush of speed, reappearing down at the ground before the Anbu could land. Without looking, Vegeta slammed his fist into the Anbu assassin as he fell to the ground behind him. The unfortunate victim flew forward, slamming into the other two just before they could dodge out of the way.

"You don't want to piss me off…" Vegeta growled dangerously, as his ki began to fill the air. "If you'd just listen, I'd tell you that I have the Hokage's permission to build here."

He tossed down a slip of paper, which one of the Anbu managed to get up, limp over to, and read. "I see. Our mistake."

"Yeah. Your mistake," Vegeta snarled, charging up a small ball of ki in one hand. "You can run away now."

The one Anbu who could stand managed to grab his partners away, and shunshin away before Vegeta could fire, running in a burst of pure adrenaline. Vegeta let his energy die away.

_God these people are dense. I've _killed_ people for being this stupid…_

Sasuke stared at the hand Vegeta had charged his energy through. Sweat trickled down his neck as he processed what had just happened.

_He beat those Anbu to a pulp. Plus that last attack… there was so much chakra, it was visible. I can use this…_

"I'm impressed," he admitted to Vegeta aloud. The words seemed to tear at his throat as he said them, but it needed to be done. "I think I'll let your little arrangement stand. For now."

Vegeta just sent Sasuke an annoyed look.

"Then pack your bags. From now on, you'll be living here. But first…: Vegeta trailed off.

"…Get back to work."

-0-0-0-0-

Even for such accomplished eaters as Naruto and Goku, it took nearly half an hour to finish their celebratory ramen feast. _Of course, I always have time for food that good_, Goku grinned. "Well, we need to get moving," he finally said. "It was good to meet you…?"

"Teuchi," offered the ramen chef. "It was good to meet you too, especially considering I have another ramen connoisseur of Naruto's… caliber to look forward to from now on."

Naruto grinned, and got up. Bowing to Teuchi, he said, "Thanks for the ramen old man! Come on otou-san, let's get going!"

Naruto ran off a slight distance, gesturing to Goku to follow. However, Teuchi had a few words to say before he could leave.

"I'd be a lot happier to see you go if paid for your ramen first."

"Oh, right! Sorry," Goku laughed. He reached into his back pocket, taking out a few zenie. "This should cover it, right?"

Teuchi frowned for a moment as he took the strange money. "I don't know where you're from, but this isn't any form of currency I recognize."

"What?" Goku asked, looking a little confused. "I thought everyone accepted zenie."

"Well, not in Konoha," Teuchi sighed. "Do you have any ryou?"

"No…" Goku admitted. Meditating on his predicament for a moment, Goku came to a realization. Reaching into his pocket for a capsule, Goku unsealed a bit of the weighted cloth.

"How about a trade? It doesn't look like it, but this cloth is heavier than lead. That should be worth something to the right people, shouldn't it?"

Teuchi nodded, but frowned in displeasure. "Normally, I wouldn't do this, but since you're Naruto's new father, I'll make an exception, just this once."

"Thanks, don't worry about it, we'll have money next time," Goku laughed, leaving behind the whole roll of cloth. "Thanks for the ramen, bye!"

With that, Goku ran off to catch up with Naruto. Teuchi sighed, and tried to get the cloth off his counter. He grasped it first with one hand, then with two, but no matter how hard he pulled the material wouldn't budge.

"…What do I do with this now…?" Teuchi muttered in defeat.

-0-0-0-0-

Goku ran at a very slow pace to avoid startling anyone in the village, so it took him a few moments before he could even see Naruto again. Nevertheless, the boy's ki was easy to track, so Goku had no fear of loosing his charge.

"Hey, what took you?" asked Naruto.

"Sorry, I had a little trouble paying Teuchi. Turns out my money's no good in Konoha."

"…So you're broke?" Naruto asked, incredulous. "Ok, how're we going to buy furniture then?"

"Well, I was going to save this for last, but if we head to one of the local weapon suppliers I can probably trade for some ryou," Goku reasoned. "I have some things that would probably interest them."

"You were going to go to a weapon shop?" Naruto asked, curious as ever. "You needed some new kunai or something?"

"You'll see," Goku smiled. "It's a surprise."

Excited at the prospect of a surprise, Naruto eagerly lead Goku to a shop he knew of close to the outskirts of town. Old and run down, the shop nonetheless boasted a fine display in its front window. Several swords, a myriad of kunai, and some of the finest craftsmanship Goku had ever seen adorned the display, proving to Goku that despite the poor appearance of the shop, they made quality work.

"I come around here all the time," Naruto explained. "Most shops won't let me buy kunai or shuriken since I'm not a legal adult, but the guy in this shop let's me use some of his defective stock."

"He gives you defective weapons…?" Goku asked, reevaluating his opinion of the shop.

"What? It's not like they're broken or anything," Naruto said, looking puzzled.

"Do you know what the word 'defective' means… Naruto?"

"Sure! It means free!" the boy laughed, running into the shop.

Goku hesitantly followed him inside, and instantly lost himself in the vast display of armament adorning the walls. The display didn't do the shop justice. Sabers, spears, maces, katana, and more adorned the establishment until you could hardly see the chipping paint beneath. Accompanying them, to Goku's relief, were combat uniforms of various sizes All of it was of fine quality, to Goku's novice glance at the least, but still Goku was uneasy. _Why would such a place be located in a cheap building, in a poor neighborhood?_

Approaching the counter, Goku felt a sweltering heat coming from just behind the wall beyond. Ringing a bell on the counter, Goku was surprised when the door just beyond the counter opened, and an immense heat wave blasted against his face. A muscular man wielding a hammer came out from the back room, closing the door behind him.

Goku instantly appraised the man. He was extremely tall, easily three heads above Goku's height, with girth to match. The sheer volume of the man combined with the low ceiling of the low rent establishment to force the shop keeper to hunch over to avoid ripping the plaster off the roof with his skull. The musculature on the man's arms was dangerous in its intensity, yet Goku could feel very little ki in the man. Certainly he held some strength of arm, but he was not a Shinobi by any means. However, Goku ceased to worry about the man entirely only when he saw his face. A well trimmed beard hid his chin, but not his smile, nor his warm friendly eyes.

"Sorry about the heat," the man said apologetically. "I just got a new shipment of steel in, so the furnace has been on for a while."

Goku laughed, "No worries. So you make all these weapons yourself?"

"Of course," the man bellowed in laughter. "I'm Konoha's number one blacksmith. So then, what can I do for you today?"

"Ox-san!" Naruto called up to him.

"Oh, Naruto!" the man grinned. "I didn't see you there. So he's with you then?" the 'ox' gestured to Goku.

"Yeah," Goku smiled. "We're family now."

"Really, how long?"

"Just today," Goku replied. "Which is also how long I've known Naruto needed a certain item. I was wondering if you stocked weights?"

_Weights?_ Naruto asked himself. That's _the surprise…?_

"Sure do," the man nodded, gesturing to a small shelf in a corner. "Most shinobi don't use them too extensively since they interfere with movement, so I'm afraid we don't have a very large selection," the man admitted.

"No problem, I was really looking for a more of a custom job anyway," Goku admitted, reaching into his pocket. He released another large roll of weighted cloth onto the counter with a resounding crash. The large man looked at it in surprise.

"What is this?"

"Weighted cloth, heavier than lead. I want a vest, some wrist bands, and some ankle bands made to fit Naruto. He's probably not ready for the full routine, so please use only a thirty percent concentration of weighted to common fibers."

"Hm… I'm sorry, but I don't actually make the ninja combat uniforms we sell here," the man sighed. "We work through a… separate business," he muttered unhappily. "If she's willing, I can have one set done by closing. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes," Goku nodded. "That should be fine, thank you."

"Well then, the material's kind of silky, I guess," the man noted. "But silk's pretty expensive…"

"I don't know about that just yet," Goku hesitated. "I was actually hoping to work in a trade. We need about seven outfits for Naruto, but the excess material is more than enough to be a viable trade offer, I think. So, how much will you take for the roll?"

The man chuckled nervously. "Listen, I'm not really the person you should ask about cloth. That'd be the other side of the business, but since you're here… I'll pay for the weighted cloths, and let's say… ten thousand extra?"

Goku nodded, that should be sufficient for the rest of their little 'expedition'. "Ok, that sounds fair."

The man nodded, and grabbed the roll of cloth. With a grunt of effort, the man barely managed to lift the whole thing off the counter.

"Oi, Oushi-san… do you need some help?" asked Naruto nervously.

"No," grunted the man, I'm fine."

With one last heave, he placed the roll in a cart, behind his counter. Goku whistled, impressed.

"That must have taken a lot of strength… Oushi, was it?"

"Yeah, the man panted, grinning. He rubbed the back of his neck, a little embarrassed, "I know it's all too appropriate a name but, what're you going to do, eh?"

Goku laughed, "Well, I'm Son Goku. It's been a pleasure to meet you, Oushi-san."

"Likewise," laughed Oushi, who extended his hand. Goku shook it, and treated the ox of a man to his patented 'son grin.'

"Say… where'd you get this stuff anyway?" asked the blacksmith, still panting from the effort.

"From my homeland, far away," Goku responded.

"Your homeland? Well, I don't look it, but I'm a bit of a scholarly man myself. Not to mention I have plenty of well traveled clients. I might have heard of your homeland."

"I… don't like to talk about it," Goku muttered, evading the question the best he could. "Listen, we have to go. Bye, Oushi-san."

Goku subtly herded Naruto out the door, hoping to leave before Oushi could ask any more dangerous questions.

Naruto waved and said, "Bye Oushi-san."

"Bye, Naruto."

As the door shut behind them, Oushi mused, _Hmm… I wonder why he was so evasive? Well, I guess it's none of my business. Besides, anyone strong enough to just wave that cloth around like it was nothing has got to be Shinobi. Shinobi are just secretive like that I guess._

Oushi stared down at the roll of cart, settled into a small cart, and sighed.

_I'm not looking forward to this part…_

-0-0-0-0-

Naruto continued to pant heavily as he placed the bed down on the ground outside the Hokage's office, and collapsed. He couldn't believe how heavy a simple frame of wood and a mattress could be, especially after the first twenty or so blocks.

"Good job Naruto, you're even stronger than I thought," Goku grinned. "Keep this up, and you'll be the strongest Shinobi in your year."

"Really?" Naruto asked, excitement belayed only by exhaustion.

"Of course. Now then, you wait here and rest a little. I'm going to have a short conversation with the Hokage."

"No problem," Naruto muttered before falling silent. Goku gave the boy a little smile before walking into the tower. Inside, he was greeted by a receptionist.

"You're back again?" she asked politely. "Here to see Hokage-sama?"

Goku nodded in the affirmative, and she led him upstairs. She entered the office first, and then came back out moments later to give Goku permission to enter. Goku did so, thanking the receptionist before she left.

"Goku," the Hokage greeted. "How was your first day with Naruto?"

"Disturbing," Goku sighed, getting right to the point. "His strength worries me."

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes slightly, "What is it that worries you exactly?"

"Well Naruto is far stronger than any boy his age has any right to be. I performed a little test on my way here. While out shopping for supplies, we purchased some furniture. I sealed up most of it, but I had Naruto carry his bed here, under the guise of training. From what I had seen earlier, I wasn't surprised when Naruto was able to lift it, so I decided to jog for as long as it took for him to reach his limit. He made it the whole way, from the outskirts of town, carrying three hundred pounds over his head, at the age of eight years old," Goku noted.

Sarutobi had to work hard to contain his surprise. "The boy is that strong?"

"Stronger, I should think. I had to keep us at a slow enough pace to keep him from tripping over himself. Which is another problem, the boy has clearly gained most of this strength so quickly as to be unable to control it."

Sighing, Goku muttered, "There's only one way he could have this much power under these conditions."

Sarutobi nodded, waiting for Goku to continue.

"When a Saiyan fights, he always gets stronger, even when he looses. No, I should say especially when he looses. When a Saiyan is placed in a near death state, his power can nearly double." Narrowing his eyes upon the Sandaime with some anger, Goku said, "This is how I believe Naruto gained this power. So I will ask you only once. How and why was my son able to reach a state of near death several times simultaneously?" Goku couldn't help but growl out in anger.

-0-0-0-0-

It had taken all of Oushi's strength to roll the heavy cloth off his counter and into a cart, but that was where the real work began. Yet now with his labor was finished, he had managed to bring the material to its final home.

Now the real trial of his would commence.

Sighing, he looked to where he had arrived. The store was a large fashion boutique in a wealthy part of town. The pristine white walls and large windows showed a display of such fine clothing that only a noble woman could afford. Along side were many lesser yet still stunning pieces for the more common women of Konoha. Clearly, Oushi noted, the tactic was a success, or else the owner could not have kept the store open amidst the wealthiest district of Konoha, only meters down the road from the Hyuuga clan's compound.

Walking in, expending the last of the energy his muscles could afford for the moment to pull the heavy cart, Oushi was happy to note that there was not a soul in the store at the moment, save him. There were only minutes until closing, so perhaps that was to be expected.

"Uma! I've got a custom order for you, along with a surprise!" he called out to the empty shop.

It was a few moments before a woman casually walked out of the back room. She noted the rough figure of the poor blacksmith with a slight twitch of her lip, hiding a sneer.

_She needn't have bothered,_ Oushi thought to himself. _I know that sneer well enough already._

"Well if it isn't Konoha's finest blacksmith," she said boisterously, friendly as if he were a customer. "You say you have a custom order? From a Shinobi then, I presume?"

"Well, I believe the man who's paying for it must be a Shinobi, but I didn't see a hitai-ate. However, the order is for Naruto. You'll remember his measurements from last time, correct?"

"Naruto," she sighed. "The little whelp that was willing to take those disgusting orange cloths off my hands? You're still doing… business with the brat?"

"Of course, though he's paying in a very unusual way this time," he noted, indicating the little cart full of material. "He has a father now, a Shinobi from a faraway land. This cloth he has here is weighted cloth. He says it's heavier than lead, and I believe him," he said with a bellowing laugh.

"Interesting…" she said as she ran her hands over the silky cloth.

"They need seven sets of the following: a vest, two wristbands, and two ankle bands made from a combination of thirty percent this material, and seventy percent silk. I was sort of hoping you could make the first set within the hour…?"

"That's a tall order," she hissed at him. "No other seamstress could even lift this, nonetheless make cloths from it. Even you can't lift the whole roll, and you expect me to be done in an hour? It's very difficult work you know, very difficult."

"Well, if you can't do it…"

"I never said that," she shot back with a fox like grin. "Any other specifications?"

"Well both Naruto and the Shinobi seem to enjoy wearing orange," Oushi muttered, "so it better be orange then. Oh, and there was a rather simplistic pattern on the back of the man's gi, like this."

Oushi pulled a scrap of paper out of one of his pockets, and Uma rolled her eyes, handing him a pen. He quickly drew the symbol of the kame school on the crumpled up paper, and handed it to her.

"So I think you should probably put this on the vest. That's all I can think of really."

"Ok, now then, just hand me the cart."

"No," Oushi grinned, "I want to know what you'll pay me for the material first."

She sighed, "Alright, I figure there's enough there to make a couple hundred outfits, if I made them all out of pure weighted cloth. So I'll give you two hundred thousand for the lot of it, plus the outfits from this job."

"Three hundred," Oushi countered.

"For three hundred, I want the rights to sell shinobi outfits in my store back. Lord knows how many of my better pieces you have waiting for the rats in that hovel of yours to devour. You were doing poor enough before, but ever since you started letting that Naruto kid in-"

"Fine," Oushi snapped. "Three hundred and you can have the rights to sell to shinobi back. I'll have Tenten bring over your old work tomorrow, agreed?"

"Agreed," Uma nodded, taking the cart from Oushi, and pulling it casually behind her back. "So how is Tenten anyway? It's been a while since I saw the dear girl."

"She's been doing pretty well," Oushi replied, as he began to walk away.

"Think of her, Oushi, before you make rash decisions. If you continue letting Naruto shop at your store, you're going to loose it. Then how will you take care of her?"

"That's none of your concern," Oushi growled as he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

-0-0-0-0-

"So that's how it is…" Goku sighed.

"What I've just told you is one of the greatest secrets in all of Konoha. You can't tell anyone, not even Naruto. Do you understand?"

"Does he know?"

Sarutobi nodded. "As I said, he got himself hurt so badly so that I would have to tell him and I did, but you can't tell him you know, it's his place to tell you this, not mine."

"Still, I'm glad you did," Goku said with a nod. "I just wish there was something I could do."

"I know the feeling, but there is very little that can be done. Now then, there's another matter I wish to speak with you on. As I'm sure you noticed while out in the town today, people are going to be curious as to where you're from."

Goku nodded, "I've been vague so far, but I don't know how long I can keep it up."

"Yes," the Sandaime nodded. "Goku, you and Vegeta pose a very unique problem. I can't tell the village you're from a whole different universe, it might cause a panic. We're a people who strive for peace, but we're all too accustomed to war, and the idea of an enemy who can show up so unpredictably, while we could never strike back against them would make my village's peace of mind impossible."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's not actually that easy."

"I know," Sarutobi nodded. "However, that changes nothing. So I need a way to account for your sudden appearance. Here's what I have in mind. You're the sole survivors of the Saiyan clan, a powerful clan from a small country across the sea known as Na no Kuni, which was ravaged recently by a Biju. You have come to Konoha seeking to integrate what remains of your clan into our village."

Goku thought for a moment, and nodded. "That sounds mostly true anyway, so that should work."

"Good," Sarutobi smiled in is grandfatherly smile. "We'll discuss the details of your role in the village at a later date. However, there's one dilemma that must be attended to first. Neither of you are actually Shinobi and while you're strong, you lack some of our basic skills."

Goku nodded, "So what're we going to do about that?"

"Well we can't very well send you to the academy," Sarutobi chuckled. "I want you to tell Vegeta that I'll personally attend to your no doubt brief educational needs. I'll set some time aside tomorrow night to hammer in the basics, I don't think you'll need any more than that to prove your status as a shinobi."

"Thank you," Goku said, standing to take his leave.

"Oh, by the way Goku, Naruto's not the only one you'll need to keep an eye on. I already told Vegeta this, but Sasuke is of questionable stability right now. Sasuke is Vegeta's job, but it wouldn't hurt to have another pair of eyes on him."

"Ok, I think I understand," Goku replied.

They exchanged their goodbyes, and Goku left.

-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Yes, I do know that Na no Kuni is a country in the filler. For those not in the know, it means "Land of Vegetables." Now how could I resist saying the Saiyans came from a land of Vegetables? Besides, filler isn't canon anyway.

More egregious a violation of canon is probably the fact that I made up an origin for Naruto's orange jumpsuit, even if I'm pretty sure he doesn't wear one when he's eight. About Oushi being nice to Naruto… no excuse there really, I'm just sort of going with it. By the way, Oushi is a word meaning 'bull' or 'ox.' Uma means 'horse.'


End file.
